Mr. Customer: update your address when you move
Archive: Online bookselling
I'm beginning to wish there was some centralized but distributed repository where people could store things like their shipping address. When they update it on the master site all of the places they've supplied their shipping address with would automatically be updated.
Lately we seem to be getting more urgent emails warning that the shipping address they have on Amazon (or wherever) is out of date. Thankfully most of these have arrived before we've shipped the book.
This only happens on sites where we get minimal postage reimbursement. If we have to reship the package we need to ask for additional shipping to be paid so we don't lose money on shipping, not something we care to do on a cheap paperback.
Mostly it seems people want to pay the additional carriage by check. So we email them, they respond, mail us a check for less than $2 and then we dispatch the book to their proper address. Lots of labor for a pittance but one of the pitfalls of listing inexpensive books and not being on of those used book sweatshops I suspect being staffed with underpaid migrant labor.
Feel free to share your feelings about Mr. Customer: update your address when you move. Please stick to the theme of the entry. Disagreement is fine. Homophobia, racism, and kindred expressions of hatred will be deleted.
This site is one of my hobbies. I genuinely enjoy hearing from people and hate moderating or killing comments. Forthright disagreement is fine as long as it is civil.
My thanks,
Richard
1 · Posted by: Sean on September 23, 2004 05:13 PM
Hey, this sounds like a good idea. I am moving right now, and the multiple changes of address are a real bother. I don't even know everywhere to change it. But on the other hand, I hate the idea of “central repositories” and any one person or group having much info on me. Call me paranoid.