Bravo, bravo, bravo!!!!!! Support local and independent booksellers, restaurants, farmers (CSAs), and merchants whenever possible. When you really look at where your money is going after you fork it over to Costco, Amazon, Wal-Mart, etc., you may be surprised (even shocked). By supporting local and independent retailers, and buying books at full price, you are supporting your fellow woman/man directly and cutting out the middle man (big business). MG

I pay full price at my local bookstore. The real issue for me is this: when you have more than one "local" indie, how do you share the wealth? I segment my buying by subject or affinity: general topics from one store, feminist or women-penned from another, SF and fantasy from the specialty shop, comics from the comics shop. Also, when you say there are plenty of Tesco and Costco shoppers to pick up your non-book-buying through those box retailers, you're more right on: Tesco and Costco aren't trying to make a living from books--they could lose money on that line and still rake it in hand over fist. Give me indies and locals or give me death!

I feel a slight twinge of guilt because (like many cash-strapped booklovers) I can either buy full price or buy often. I honestly can't do both. If I buy a full-priced poetry volume, I have to think twice about picking up that new fiction collection. If I buy discount, they'll probably both end up in my cart (along some another title I just realized I had to have). In order to assuage my guilt and satisfy my book greed, I try to buy discount for a worthy cause, such as our Friends of the Library Book Sale. Or I'll buy from a seller on Amazon who is more than just a seller, like Better World Books. These aren't perfect solutions, but as a consumer, the line between my pocket-book and my social conscience isn't always easy to walk.

I feel a slight tinge of guilt because (like many cash-strapped booklovers) I can either buy full price or buy often. I honestly can't do both. If I buy a full-priced poetry volume, I have to think twice about picking up that new fiction collection. If I buy discount, they'll probably both end up in my cart (along with another title I just realized I had to have). In order to assuage my guilt and satisfy my book greed, I try to buy discount for a worthy cause, such as our Friends of the Library Book Sale. Or I'll buy from a seller on Amazon who is more than just a seller, like Better World Books. These aren't perfect solutions, but as a consumer, the line between my pocket-book and my social conscience isn't always easy to walk.

Oops! Sorry about the double posting.

I cheat by buying books at a generous employee discount from a major chain bookstore, but I would never stoop to buying loss leaders from Costco... Guy's gotta have a few standards, y'know...

Those of us who live in the Hinterlands don't have the option of buying at local Indies, or even at chains. For many of us, Amazon and other online booksellers are the only game in town. When I make it into the city, however, I support as many booksellers as I can find.

I'm a writer. If writers don't buy at local indies then there's no hope. Needless to say, I don't have buckets of cash, but books are my top consumer priority, along with the urge to save our remaining indie bookshops. I've toured a lot of stores, believe me, and have found very few that aren't a complete pleasure, staffed by book lovers who aim to please. So I spend at my local stores and I don't resent a penny of it. I also buy gift certificates for birthdays and such, giving a double gift: the book, and the experience of the bookstore.

Just so I have this straight: I'm supposed to pay more than I have to for a product out of a sense of altruism? Seriously? I've long hoped that the publishing industry will create an economic model that actually works, but posts like these don't inspire much hope.

I agree with rc95. Books exist to please readers, not to create a nice living for writers and independent bookstore sellers. I think many people don't seem to understand that.