Library Blues

 

 

As part of the commuter lifestyle, I tend to read a lot (when I am not doing the crossword or Sudoku puzzles).  In an effort to be economical or frugal (you can read that as cheap), I take books out of the library.  I hate to rant on the library because its advantages greatly outweigh its disadvantages.  It had lots of books, DVD's, CD's, comic books, graphic novels, magazines and a whole bunch of other stuff that I don't access, but is probably great for other people (seminars, art shows etc.).

Nonetheless, I have two problems.  These two problems have nothing to do with due dates or late fines.  Those things, while slightly stressful, have their place and are necessary.  What bothers me is the way they have done their digital book offerings, and the way that they either don't have some books, or the wait list is has me getting the book sometime in the next decade.

I bought a Kobo, and I am quite happy with it.  I have had difficulty with e-books that the library has, though.  Why is there only one copy?  If it is digital, should there be an infinite number of copies?  It isn't like I am actually taking the data off their hard drive.  It won't be lost.  The copies are programmed to delete themselves after three weeks.... Is it that the library system in Ontario has somehow confused the past with the present.  Are they unable to see the digital forest for the trees?  Are they trying to make the digital age represent the way things used to be?  One only needs to look at how Netflix put an end to Blockbuster to understand how wrong this kind of thinking is.

Maybe there are some copyright issues involved, but those should be explained, rather than hoping that we just understand.

As for not having books...yes, I understand there are space and budget constraints.  There are plans to expand my library, so hopefully they will have more space for books.  My problem is that I want to read a series of books in order, and sometimes the library doesn't have one or more of the books in the series.  If you have most of the series, and are hoping that people take the books out, not having the whole series is kind of ridiculous, don't you think?  Most recently, I have read Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books, but due to availability I have read them completely out of order.  You can guess that I am slightly confused, but starting to make sense of it.

Shrinking Food, Unaware Customers

When people from my generation talk, occasionally, they remark that something seems smaller than when they were young.  The typical place this comment is aimed is at Wagon Wheels.  Everyone remembers when they were gigantic, and today they seem really small.  Honestly, when we were young, we were small, and some stuff looked bigger than it really was. However, there are many examples of things getting smaller, which seems to have been done to keep from raising the price.

Now coke comes in an 18 pack.  18 is a far cry from the two dozen that I expect coke to come in.  If they did that with beer, there would blood in the streets and revolution in the air.  I also remember buying a 600mL coke, but now it is only 591mL.  Does that seem right to you?

Most can goods have done the same thing.  The number of millilitres is always some awkward number because they started out at a standard round number, but have gradually crept it down so that instead of 750mL we get a number like 682mL.  How stupid do they think we are?  Did they think we wouldn't notice?  Of course not.  They knew we would notice, but they felt confident that we wouldn't say anything.

This must happen all the time.  We are given smaller versions of things and we accept it.  Over time, our products are shrinking. When I bought potato chips as a kid, they had to rather big bags inside one really big bag.  These days, the bag you get chips in is probably smaller than one of the two you got originally.

Only once, in the history of marketing, has this ever backfired.  One company of feminine products decided to reduce the number from 30 to 24.  This was met with a conscious and subconscious boycott which forced the company to rethink its strategy and sell the product in its original size.

 

It isn't just food.  Comic books used to have a hundred pages, now they have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20.  Remember Mad Magazine?  I would say that fewer pages mean fewer laughs.

Why can't the rest of us do this?  Why are we towing the company line?  Next time I find a company doing this I will report it here, and I will send off as many emails as I can, and join any boycott I can.  If you find a product like this, attach a comment to this blog.