BOOKSELLERS SELLING TO LIBRARIES AND THE RESULT, IN PROFIT AND LOSS TO THE BOOKSELLER.
The following tabulation is compiled, from actual purchases made from four prominent publishers, by a large bookseller, during a period of one year. These purchases included books in all classes of literature, fiction, biography, science, travel, etc., etc., which would fairly represent the book purchases of a number of libraries for the period of one year. These books were bought at varying discounts, viz.:—2/5, 2/5-5, 2/5-10, ¼, ¼-5, ¼-10, 3/10, 3/10-5, 3/10-10, 1/3, 1/3-5, 1/3-10. Every advantage was taken where possible, to obtain by quantity buying, the extra 5 and 10 per cent, given by the publishers. The amount bought of these four publishers at published price was about $37,035.87, which cost the bookseller about $24,000.00, and included both regular, net and special books.
Let us assume that this bookseller sold these books from his stock to the libraries, at a discount from the published prices, on regular books, of 1/3 and a discount of 10% from the published prices of net books.
It is here shown, what the result of the operation would be to the bookseller, as to profit or loss. The cost point of doing business by booksellers the country over, has been fairly well determined to be on the same average, 28% per dollar of sale. This may fluctuate according to circumstances and location, between 30% and 25%. In order, however, to clearly and fully cover all possibilities in the matter, the expense per dollar of sale has been calculated at 28%, 20%, 15%, 10% and 5% per dollar of sale.
In all these calculations per dollar of sale, no allowance is made for depreciation of stock, fixtures, bad accounts, etc., etc.
It is hoped that a careful analysis of this table will help solve the library problem.
TABLE NO. 1.
| Published Price | Discount to Libraries | Sold to Libraries at | Cost to Booksellers | Cost per Dollar of Sale | Total Cost | Loss | Gain | Total Loss | Total Gain | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per Dollar of Sale 28%. | |||||||||||
| Non | Net | 15,935.85 | 1/3 | 10,623.93 | 9,145.56 | 2,974.70 | 12,120.26 | 1,496.33 | |||
| Net | 21,099.98 | 1/10 | 18,989.99 | 14,854.44 | 5,317.19 | 20,171.63 | 1,181.64 | 2,677.97 | |||
| Cost per Dollar of Sale 20%. | |||||||||||
| Non | Net | 15,935.85 | 1/3 | 10,623.93 | 9,145.56 | 2,124.78 | 11,270.04 | 646.11 | 308.55 | ||
| Net | 21,099.98 | 1/10 | 18,989.99 | 14,854.44 | 3,797.99 | 18,652.43 | 337.56 | ||||
| Cost per Dollar of Sale 15%. | |||||||||||
| Non | Net | 15,935.85 | 1/3 | 10,623.93 | 9,145.56 | 1,593.59 | 10,739.15 | 115.22 | |||
| Net | 21,099.98 | 1/10 | 18,989.99 | 14,854.44 | 2,848.49 | 17,702.93 | 1,287.06 | 1,171.84 | |||
| Cost per Dollar of Sale 10%. | |||||||||||
| Non | Net | 15,935.85 | 1/3 | 10,623.93 | 9,145.56 | 1,062.39 | 10,207.95 | 415.98 | |||
| Net | 21,099.98 | 1/10 | 18,989.99 | 14,854.44 | 1,898.99 | 16,753.43 | 2,236.56 | 2,652.54 | |||
| Cost per Dollar of Sale 5%. | |||||||||||
| Non | Net | 15,935.85 | 1/3 | 10,623.93 | 9,145.56 | 531.19 | 9,676.75 | 947.18 | |||
| Net | 21,099.98 | 1/10 | 18,989.99 | 14,854.44 | 949.49 | 15,803.93 | 3,186.06 | 4,133.24 | |||
TABLE NO. 2.
The following tabulation is compiled on the same basis as Table No. 1, but showing the result to the bookseller, as to profit and loss, if the bookseller increased the discount to the libraries, on regular books, from 1/3 to 2/5, and on net books from 1/10 to 1/5.
| Published Price | Discount to Libraries | Sold to Libraries at | Cost to Booksellers | Total Cost | Loss | Gain | Total Loss | Total Gain | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per Dollar of Sale 28%. | ||||||||||
| Non | Net | 15,935.85 | 2/5 | 9,561.53 | 9,145.56 | 2,677.22 | 11,822.78 | 2,261.25 | ||
| Net | 21,099.98 | 1/5 | 16,879.99 | 14,854.44 | 4,726.39 | 19,580.53 | 2,700.54 | 4,961.79 | ||
| Cost per Dollar of Sale 15%. | ||||||||||
| Non | Net | 15,935.85 | 2/5 | 9,561.53 | 9,145.66 | 1,434.22 | 10,579.78 | 1,018.25 | ||
| Net | 21,099.98 | 1/5 | 16,879.99 | 14,854.44 | 2,531.99 | 17,386.13 | 506.14 | 1,524.39 | ||
| Cost per Dollar of Sale 10%. | ||||||||||
| Non | Net | 15,935.85 | 2/5 | 9,561.53 | 9,145.56 | 956.15 | 10,101.71 | 540.18 | ||
| Net | 21,099.98 | 1/5 | 16,879.99 | 14,854.44 | 1,687.99 | 16,542.43 | 337.56 | 202.62 | ||
| Cost per Dollar of Sale 5%. | ||||||||||
| Non | Net | 15,935.85 | 2/5 | 9,561.53 | 9,145.56 | 478.07 | 9,623.62 | 62.10 | ||
| Net | 21,099.98 | 1/5 | 16,879.99 | 14,854.44 | 843.99 | 15,698.43 | 1,181.56 | |||
June, 1913
Report of the Bookbuying Committee of the American Library Association, 1912-13
In November, 1912, your committee was notified by the secretary that the executive board asked it to continue its negotiations with the committee on libraries of the American Booksellers' Convention.
A meeting with the latter committee was immediately arranged for, and such meeting was held in New York City on November 25th, which was attended by two representatives of the Booksellers' Association and by two members of the committee on Book Buying of the A. L. A. A discussion lasting over three hours, when all the details and conditions were gone over, resulted in a definite agreement, the ratification of which the committee of the American Booksellers' Association promised to recommend to that Association.
This agreement was in the nature of a small concession on the part of the Booksellers' Committee. While the concession was small, it was accepted as at least showing a disposition on the part of the Booksellers to co-operate with the libraries in the promotion of a better feeling between them. The Booksellers' Committee agreed to allow the libraries a discount of 15% from the net price on new fiction, instead of 10%, which is now allowed. The 15% discount was to be given during the calendar year in which the novel was published, as given on the title page.
A few days after this agreement was made, the acting chairman of the American Booksellers' Association committee announced that he could not carry it out, because of his finding that the booksellers could not afford to do what he had promised to recommend, and at that time submitted figures which he thought proved his contention. These figures differed in no particular from those which were formerly submitted, and which are a part of this report, and which, we believe are on a false basis of an exaggerated cost of doing library business, and of misleading statements as to discounts allowed by the publishers to booksellers on new fiction.
At the annual meeting of the American Booksellers' Association, which was held in May of this year, a statement was made by its committee on Relations with libraries, but this statement does not form a part of the published report of the proceedings of the convention, and your committee has not been able to obtain a copy of the stenographer's notes. The acting chairman of the Booksellers' Committee informs us that he made no report, but that he submitted and supplemented the foregoing statements of the committees, with quotations from the correspondence of the two committees. It, therefore, probably differed but little from the original statements made by the two committees.
We would, therefore, call your attention to the reasons given in the Booksellers' "Statement" for holding the uniform higher prices which the libraries are paying for books because of the short discounts allowed by the Booksellers' Association. As the position taken by the Booksellers' Association is not agreed to by all of the individual booksellers, such action may or may not be looked upon as a "restraint of trade."
The estimate of the cost of doing business by retail booksellers is 28%, and the contention is that no profit is made from any item which does not net them a sum greater than 28% above cost. This would mean that they wish to force the libraries into becoming retail customers because library business as a wholesale trade is regarded by the retail booksellers as too costly, and the Booksellers' Committee believes that it should not be welcomed by them. All booksellers do not take this view any more than they would wish to endorse that expressed in paragraph 8 of the "answer" of their committee, which reads as follows: "A great majority of the libraries are created and supported by direct taxation, by charitable contributions, endowments, legacies and the like. It is true that libraries have to be conducted in a careful, businesslike way, simply keeping within their means. Doing this, they are free from the booksellers' anxieties and difficulties as a merchant."
Your committee believes that there is no question as to the desire of all libraries to encourage good feeling between the booksellers and themselves, nor is there any question as to the desirability of having a bookstore in every community.
We believe that the local booksellers should be encouraged, but not at the expense of the taxpayers through the library.
The libraries, as wholesale buyers, should, we believe, be allowed greater discounts on the net books. As the retail booksellers seem not included to make any compromise, we believe that your committee on Book Buying might, in the immediate future, be of service to the libraries by calling their attention to the advantages of buying many replace books from booksellers who are desirous of obtaining and keeping the library business and to those who deal in remainders and second-hand books, both here and abroad.
Inasmuch as the Booksellers' Committee on Relations with libraries did not keep its verbal promise, and has reassumed its former position which allows no concession whatsoever, although asking and expecting co-operation from the libraries, we believe that there is nothing to be gained by further negotiations with the Booksellers' Association Committee on Relations with Libraries as it is now constituted.
Respectfully submitted,
WALTER L. BROWN,
CARL B. RODEN,
CHARLES H. BROWN,
Committee on Bookbuying.