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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ban idiots who come into my shop

253 replies

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 12:25

and tell their children at full volume in front of other customers that "you can get that cheaper in Costco"?

I'm fucking fed up the back teeth of people doing that!!

Why don't you just fuck off to Costco then, and stop trying to lose me the precious very few customers I get????

beggars belief.

OP posts:

Original poster

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 12:54

thanks LadyBeagleEyes :)

OP posts:

Original poster

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 12:55

Booyhoo - i have had people standing there in the past, telling me that books are cheaper at Costco.
Tehy were complete twats though (they really were, nasty horrible people, even vefore they said the costco thing)
thing is, though, I'd been to costco the week before, and the books they were looking at choosing weren't even on sale at costco!

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sayithowitis · 17/08/2011 12:56

I have a Costco card. I am not a business. there are quite a lot of employers whose employees can get a card : banks, local authorities, police, etc.

I love to support small, independent bookshops. But these days, unless I am buying something completely out of the mainstream, yes, I will look at mass retailers, including Costco, to get the best deal I can.

muminthemiddle · 17/08/2011 12:56

I have done this. Admittedly I don't shout loudly but rather will whisper to my dcs that no I am not prepared to pay x when I can buy it for y. However in your case I wouldn't do it as I know roughly what I would be paying for a book from a bookshop.

Original poster

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 12:56

i can't eat Camembert while i'm pregnant :(

OP posts:

GypsyMoth · 17/08/2011 12:56

At least they don't say 'it's cheaper to get on kindle version!'

Guess that doesn't bode well in a bookshop

Original poster

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 12:58

Jemima - thankfully, Amazon can't take National Book Tokens.

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Blatherskite · 17/08/2011 12:58

I buy most of my books from Amazon and my Sister works in Waterstones! Even with her staff discount, Amazon is often cheaper.

Sometimes you really have to go and look at books before you buy though and I love looking round bookshops. You have to take into account though that the shop has to pay rent and staff wages and for heating etc and that they're going to need to pass those costs on so things aren't going to be as cheap as they are online - it's the price you pay for browsing and getting things immediately without having to wait for the post.

RoxyRobin · 17/08/2011 12:58

Don't ban them! They'll feel obliged to come into your shop every day - 'It's my right, innit?' - and still go on about Costco.

Seriously, my dad used to run a newsagent's shop forty years ago and had to put up with this rubbish then. He would patiently explain (a) that Woolworth's could afford to sell stuff cheaper because they got a discount for bulk-buying and (b) that once shoppers had paid their bus fare into town the saving would be wiped out, but the punters were so thick they'd just say, 'Yes but it's cheaper at Woolworth's'.

I wouldn't care, but he was very far from being a profiteer, and delivered free to OAPs (who were often the worst!) - the only newsagent in town who would do this.

In the end he'd just tell them to bugger off to Woolworth's and not come back - so YANBU!

Original poster

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 12:58

sara - that's another good thing about children's books - not many are avaialble in ebook format

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bonkers20 · 17/08/2011 12:59

Oh I feel guilty. I'd like to come and buy a book in your shop.

I know for sure I've said to DS1 that there was no way I was prepared to spend £8 on a book we could get from the library or from Amazon for nothing/cheaper.

I'm a hypocrite though as I love book shops and it makes me sad that it's so much easier and cheaper to get things online. However, I am a consumer and need to watch my money. What to do, eh?

I shall certainly be more discreet.

joric · 17/08/2011 13:01

nickel- By choosing to go elsewhere, people are doing the very same thing you did when you bought at Costco for your wedding instead of from an independent shop.
They are looking for the cheapest place to buy.
They don't need to shout about it in your shop but it's what everyone is thinking nowadays.

BooyHoo · 17/08/2011 13:02

but why shouldn't they tell you that the books ae cheaper in costco? you and costco are in competition, people are giving you a chance to lower your prices so that they will come back and buy from you. dont whinge about it. i would rather customers shared their opinions on my business with me than walk out of the shop and tell 10 people on the street that they thought i was too dear.

Original poster

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 13:03

I hope that i offer a service to people.
I'm friendly and kind, and enthusiastic about what I sell.
I can recommend good book to people, especially to those who don't have a clue what they're looking for (for gifts, mainly)
I do deliver free to people - not only do you get free postage (you can also pay over the phone), but if you live locally, I will bring the item round to your house (this little fact was mentioned by a lovely person on Jeremy Vine's radio 2 show a couple of months ago )
I can order anything in for you, and I do National Book Tokens, and some toys.
If you become a regular, you get special discounts, and cups of tea when you come in.
I've got a lovely chair that you can sit on if you can't get down to the bottom shelves, and I've got a toilet, too, as well as a "mother and baby comfort room" (that's for ladies who don't want to breastfeed in front of people, but it also has a space where you can change a nappy if you want)

I like to think that my main draw is that I'm a local shop, meaning that people don't have to go all the way over to other towns to buy their books.
and I still take cheques. :)

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Original poster

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 13:05

joric - i was buying £300 worht of food.
But the main reason I bought from Costco is because I needed catering size plates of food.
If I were to buy it all from my local shops, I would have bought out their entire stock, and it would have cost a lot more than it did.
Cost is one thing, but it was purely down to the amount of food I needed in one go.
We did get top-ups of food from our local shops, and in fact, all of the drink was bought locally.

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ThePrincessRoyalFiggyrolls · 17/08/2011 13:06

No but the camembert does freeze well and I could always bulk buy blueberries or chocolate

JemimaMuddledUp · 17/08/2011 13:07

I will hold my hand up and admit that I have been known to say to the DC "Shall we have a look if its in the library?". But only because DS2 would read a book a day given half a chance and so I prefer to only buy the real keepers that will be read and re-read. I do say it very quietly though...

worraliberty · 17/08/2011 13:07

I'm going to run into a bookshop later and shout

"You money grabbing Bastards, I could read all these books for free in the Library!!"

Original poster

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 13:08

Booy - open a small business and see the margins that publishers give to you.
then come back and tell me it's a good plan to lower my prices.

I have much more selection of stock than costco, and a better service.

I don't need people to tell me that they can get something cheaper elsewhere. Taht's not helpful, and thee's not a lot I can do about it.

I need to take £100 to pay for £60 of books. (ie, in order to pay for theelcetricity, water, rent, rates, phone etc, I need to take £40 more than the £60 the books have cost me)

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Original poster

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 13:08

worra
naughty

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WilsonFrickett · 17/08/2011 13:08

Do Costco even sell books??? I bet it won't be anything like the range you get in an indy bookshop though. Or do they do catering packs - 30 x one book? I would never have thought of going to Costco for my books, but of course I still am not considering it because I heart bookshops.

Original poster

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 13:10

In fact, I don't mind if people want to go to the library for books - I actively encourage that.

I have a lot of customers who buy loads of books (for a child, 1 a week) and if they bought all of their books, rather than use the library, they would be bankrupted, and the library would close!
I don't mind that at all.
what i don't like is people telling other people to go elsewhere to buy their books.

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Original poster

nickelbabe · 17/08/2011 13:11

exactly, Wilson, that's exactly what they do.
sometimes they have cheapy editions (think like the Book People do), and they are usually crap.

the book that the woman was referring to today was a brand new lego book, with lego pieces in it - I can almost guarantee that they wouldn't have it at that price in costco (although they might have something similar), because costco doesn't tend to sell new titles, just their speical editions (apart from at christmas)

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SenoritaViva · 17/08/2011 13:11

I am your ideal customer. I love books. I love book shops. When I feel depressed I go there and have to only allow myself 4 purchases at a time. I have never even heard of Costco.

Sadly since children I don't quite get to spend a luxurious 2 hours browsing, it's more grab and go..

baguettecut · 17/08/2011 13:12

I think you need to toughen up. It's just human nature, they don't mean it as a personal attack on you.

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