Miscellaneous

WHERE’S MY PACKAGE!?!

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Nothing sends customers into a tizzy faster than a missing package.  Once it leaves your hands, there’s only so much you can do to find one of these waylaid packages.  Tracking SHOULD tell you where it is, but if it wasn’t scanned in at a step, it can appear to vanish in transit.  Or sometimes it even shows as delivered, but your customer still doesn’t have it.  International shipments can be particularly difficult because tracking doesn’t really work very well once it crosses the border… if at all.  At that point, the customer can often the package a lot faster than you can playing phone tag.  They just need a little reassurance that it’s not gone, its just temporarily mislaid, and here’s how to get it.

Here’s some common ways to resolve common “where’s my package!?!” woes.

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Stephen Colbert Vs Maurice Sendak, or Vice Versa

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Once again, I tripped over an episode of mock conservative Stephen Cobert’s show, and low and behold, he’s interviewing the famous children’s writer and illustrator–Maurice Sendak. If you’ve not seen Colbert–think of a fake sincere smart aleck whose comebacks are fast and furious, and usually hilarious. I find it hard to believe in this day … Read more

International Shipping: How Long Does It Really Take?

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The shipping estimate on the USPS website is lovely, but its not actually guaranteed for most shipping classes.  For First Class mail, estimating when it will ACTUALLY arrive vs when the the USPS says it will can be frustrating.  Having shipped hundreds of packages overseas, here’s how I estimate when the overseas customer should be looking for it. This doesn’t guarantee this is when it will turn up… but it gives a narrower range than the 4-20 the USPS lists.

This is the estimate for First Class.  Priority is usually a little faster, but not guaranteed. Start with one day.    You’ll  add days for where it originates from and where its going TO.  If you don’t immediately recognize the destination, look it up on the internet.  Keep in mind this is BUSINESS DAYS.  Make this clear to the customer as well.  Holidays don’t count as “days” for the estimate!

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The Invisible Scarlet O'Neill

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I was flabbergasted. I thought I was the only human alive that could possibly know who Scarlet O’Neill was. After all, the book I own was printed during WWII with substandard paper which crumbles to the touch. Each time I turn a page, the corner clips itself off. Even if people had some how heard … Read more

Is Truth Stranger Than Fiction?

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A man inside his car at a gas station is shot point blank by a motorcyclist wearing a opaque helmet who then speeds off. After some detective work, they realize the dead man was friends with a former beauty queen, wife of a wealthy prominent restaurant owner. A mother with 9 children–two adopted. And when … Read more

4 questions to ask when ordering textbooks for customers

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If there’s one type of book I will hold a party for when it goes totally to ebook format, it will be the textbook.  They change so frequently and are so specific they’re pretty well not worth carrying in a general shop.  Leave textbooks sales to those that specialize in it.  However, if you have a brick and mortar shop you’ll often have students in at this time of year looking for books.  Generally if they’ve come to you, its because they’re hoping you can get it cheaper than the local college… or the local college didn’t order enough textbooks for the class, which is a surprisingly common occurence.

 

In either case, they want the absolute BEST deal you can get them, which can be tricky when so many kids are familiar with the internet already.  You CAN often find them a great deal…  but you can waste a lot of time doing that if you don’t ask some specific questions up front. Get some additional info from them at the time they’re asking for the quote.  Here’s the questions you need to ask students looking to have you special order a textbook:

1. What is the ISBN?

For the love of god, get the ISBN.  Textbooks have so many editions and books with similar titles by the  same author that its really the only way to be sure its the RIGHT book. Don’t even start the search process without it.  Tell them to find it out and call back if they don’t have it.

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Happiest of Holidays!

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Not about book-selling, not about censorship, not about amazon or B&N, not about collecting, not about anything except a wish that everyone have a great time celebrating however and whatever one does this time of year. I’ve vastly enjoyed this past year writing about various subjects related to books, and the conversations, sometimes arguments, keep … Read more