Fuck the socialists.

[Svartalf]

What's wrong with Front National since Marine Le Pen took over?

Her economics are even worse than her father's, she'd reduce the country to third world status within the span of a legislature if she had her ways.

Actually, I thought she was for removing all the third worlders from France and that should save billions. Crime would go down, property values would rise, tourism would probably increase, unscrupulous business owners would be forced to hire the French. I suspect people have no real idea how much money and quality of life loss undesirable immigrants cost. Even the "good" ones hurt the economy by sending large sums of money back to their home country and undermining wages through increased labor supply.

That was more her father's schtick... if it's her program too, she doesn't tell overtly.

What she wants to remove is us from the Eurozone, and "stimulate the economy" by making the Zimbabwean currency look strong and stable by comparison with her proposed franc.

[Tyrannical]

I don't hear too many people from the UK talking about ditching the GBP for the Euro. Ditching the currency and the free immigration zone may not be a bad idea for France.

[Svartalf]

If we want to be worse off than Greece, yeah... The Sterling is strong, nor is it overly devaluated. Marine openly said she wants back to the franc so she can devaluate and reduce the ordinary citizen's buying power to nothing.

[Coito ergo sum]

I don't know what I'm gonna do, I can't vote for the socialists anymore... and yet, I've been several times in situations when the opposition was such that I had no other choice, but now they are taking that possibility away from me.

They elected one of the most corrupt men possible as party president not long ago (and I've been following his career since I was in college), they've been governing badly... and now, they are putting the last straw on my back, they intend to go along a bill proposed by the Right, that would force Amazon to bill customers for P&H on orders... I'm an occasional customer, and I need their lower than the competition prices, because I can afford so little... if that bill passes, I'll pay more, often for things I can't properly find in a brick and mortar store anyway (or at nowhere the same prices)... and I can't afford that, or I'll do so even less often than before.

I just wrote my rep about it, let's see if he answers and what he says... my guess is I'll have to vote systematically for parties like the Pirate Party (none of the mainstream parties are acceptable, the Front National far right party became impossible to vote for since Marine took over, and there's no way I can vote for the commies or the trotskysts, they are not even worth a protest vote), or abstain altogether, which I've not done in the last 20 years or so... Voting is supposed to be a duty, but blank votes are not a viable option, protest votes are a dodgy one... and abstention rates are always closely watched... so what's an angry voter to do when not properly represented, nor having a decent guy to vote for?

Next time, I'll let Sarkoshyt get elected again, that way I'll know why the country is a pesthole.

[/rant]

Not sure why it would be acceptable government policy to force Amazon to bill for postage and handling. Assuming they don't bill for P&H, any reasonable consumer knows that the P&H is built into the price. If the price is what the consumer wants and Amazon is cool with their profit without separately charging postage and handling, what is the policy reason for compelling them to charge?

[Svartalf]

They claim it to be a dumping practice and that they are protecting Brick and Mortar bookshops.

[Coito ergo sum]

They claim it to be a dumping practice and that they are protecting Brick and Mortar bookshops.

That would seem to apply to all mail order items, wouldn't it? So would this law include "free delivery" from brick and mortar places?

Not sure how it is "dumping." The brick and mortar bookstore does not charge shipping and handling -- people just go there and buy it. So, if Amazon sells the same book without shipping and handling, maybe they're just operating at a lower profit margin?

If Amazon has to charge shipping and handling, then shouldn't Barnes & Noble charge a per book charge for the shipping and stocking of the books to and in their store?

Dumping is when a manufacturer sells a product below the cost of production. Is Amazon doing that?

[Svartalf]

B&M already can't, by law, make a gift of the P&H to the customer when they send by post (yes, some do deliver) due to some weird ass law we have on the pricing of books.

The %§£µ claim that the pricing of books entail such a small profit margin that they actually lose money when they send books without billing for P&H, ergo dumping that they would recoup on more profitable items like DVDs or video games... I have no way to assess the merit of such claims.

and remember we are on the same side here.

[Coito ergo sum]

Sure, I just don't get it.

"Free" shipping and handling isn't free. It's just that they price the product accordingly, so they don't charge you a la carte for all the costs of production and delivery.

The allegation that Amazon takes a loss on books, figuring than customers will order high profit margin items too seems to me to be one that would require some proof. Maybe they can litigate it and figure out if Amazon is doing that. If they're dumping, then surely the government of France could impose antidumping measures and/or countervailing duties. They're probably looking to avoid a trade row with Merka, though.

[Svartalf]

It's not to get... we have a weird ass law about pricing books, and it has weird kinks when it comes to mail order from merchants that don't have actual stores, and they want to iron those kinks the way that will satisfy the bookshop lobby and fuck the customer and the web based merchants.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

So what will Amazon do about this? Well, it seems obvious to me that they will reduce the prices of their books on Amazon.fr and slap on P&P charges so that they still cost the same as anywhere else! All the French government is doing is forcing them to show how much P&P is included in the price. A waste of everybody's fucking time in my onion.

[Svartalf]

So what will Amazon do about this? Well, it seems obvious to me that they will reduce the prices of their books on Amazon.fr and slap on P&P charges so that they still cost the same as anywhere else! All the French government is doing is forcing them to show how much P&P is included in the price. A waste of everybody's fucking time in my onion.

a) the price of new French books is regulated they can't reduce those prices... I may see Amazon.be flourish...
b) They may have another trick or two up their sleeves, but I have no idea what... maybe take us to some European court or even the WTO.

and I've been ranting against the sordid piece of legislative waste since I started this thread... it passed the lower house unanimously BTW and is expected to go through the senate before the year is over, and I bet THAT law won't be among the lot that never get used because the application decrees never are taken by the gummint either... I'll have to take my cards to the abstentionnist and Pirate parties now.