Australian bookstore chain fucks up

[Kinoko]

Angus and Robertson is one of the big leading book store chains in Australia. I'd say that for at least a time, they were the biggest but that may just have been my own perception. I used to shop there a lot as a kid and since then, they've been going downhill. Their stores are irritating and poorly stocked. Prices high.

Now this.

In short, A&R has sent a letter to many small publishers invoicing them for between $2,500 to $100,000 just to maintain a business relationship, stating these publishers' books are not bringing in an acceptable level of profit.

Of course, many people are very pissed off.

I for one can scarcely imagine a worse decision for A&R to make. It's laughable.

One such publisher, Tower records, has written a letter of reply that is just stunningly beautiful to read. It is, as someone commented, practically a literary work in itself.

I encourage you all to read it here, even if you don't have much of an interest in the story: http://blogs.smh.com.au/entertainment/archives/undercover/014948.html

Here's some of it:


I have to say that my initial response on reading your letter as to how you propose to "manage" your business in the future was one of voluble hilarity, I literally burst out laughing aloud. My second response was to note the unmitigated arrogance of your communication, I could not actually believe I was reading an official letter from Angus & Robertson on an Angus & Robertson letterhead.

My reply to you will perforce be a lengthy one. I hope you will take the trouble to read it, you may learn something. Then again, when I look at the level of real response we have had from Angus & Robertson over the past six or so years, I somehow doubt it.

The first thing I would say to you is that arrogance of the kind penned by you in your letter of 30 July is an unenviable trait in any officer of any company, no matter how important that individual thinks himself or his company, no matter how dominant that company may be in its market sector. Business has a strange habit of moving in cycles: today's villain may be tomorrow's hero. It is quite possible to part from a business relationship in a pleasant way leaving the door open for future engagement. Sadly, in this case, you have slammed and bolted it.

More to the point, however, we have watched our business with Angus & Robertson dwindle year upon year since 2000. We had to wear the cost of sub-economic ordering from you through ownership changes, SAP installation, new management, and stock overhang. In summary our business with you has dropped from over $1.2 million at the end of 2000 to less than $600,000 in 2007.

You would be quite correct to question whether our offering to the market had changed in any way. The answer can be derived from the fact that during the same period our business with Dymocks, Book City, QBD and Borders continued to grow in double digits, our business with your own franchise stores has grown healthily, and our overall business during the same period has grown by more than 50%.


Go on. Read the rest. You'll enjoy it.

[deadsuperhero]

That was awesome. Ouch to them. 

[Stupot]

So that's what Rimmer's up to these days.  I did wonder.

[Andail]

I enjoyed that correspondence highly. Never seen such a flagrant display of arrogance before.
I mean, he even set the time for their potential appointment! And he gave him 10 minutes! That's ace.

[HillBilly]

I mean, he even set the time for their potential appointment! And he gave him 10 minutes! That's ace.

On the same day he's supposed to pay the invoice. The only worse time he could've picked was 12 hours later.

[Stupot]

Yeh, this has got to be really embarrassing for A&R, but really, what were they thinking?  I mean it can't have just been the brainchild of one person.  Surely A&R have a board of people who all thought it was a good Idea... I cringe just thinking about it.

[Darth Mandarb]

Call me a born skeptic ... but this seems like a BIG publicity stunt to me.

[Hudders]

BIG publicity stunt

For whom?

A&R will get publicity but it's not going to be good. You can't blame the publisher distributor for trying to shoe-horn in "Carpentaria" right at the end of his email though.

[Afflict]

Sweet letter, and yes it might be a publicity stunt you never know 

[Mr Jake]

I don't think the company I work for got one \o/. We are probably too important a supplier to lose to such stupidity.

EDIT: Although it appears to have been only Aus publishers aswell.

[Darth Mandarb]

For whom?

There's no such thing as "bad" publicity.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if suddenly they announce that a disgruntled employee was responsible for this and that ... blah blah blah and now they've gotten all this press/attention.

[Nikolas]

Thing is that with such companies, and the book industry, not so many things are based on simmilar promotion as the one you suggest Darth. Not that it could be untrue, but I fail to see how it would benefit A&R to have their name heard. It's that you hear a name "Britney", and get to see pics, and hear something. Go google A&R. After that?

[HillBilly]

There's no such thing as "bad" publicity.

I think this only counts for up-and-climbing people, like Paris Hilton or something. However for a business, or OJ Simpson, it often does nothing but bad.

Companies will always have a hard time recovering from a bad reputation.

[Recluse]

There's no such thing as "bad" publicity.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if suddenly they announce that a disgruntled employee was responsible for this and that ... blah blah blah and now they've gotten all this press/attention.

I was actually thinking the same thing as I read their letter. Angus & Robertson cannot expect tactics that would admittedly work in Communist China to actually work in a capitalistic society. The response is absolutely correct, it seems that with such ridiculous demands the publisher would do much better to drop the supplier. In a controlled economy, the publisher wouldn't have much of a choice who to sell to. Fortunately in this economy, the publisher has plenty of choices, and would do much better to cut their losses (and a load of extra work) by telling Angus & Robertson to go screw themselves.

[Darth Mandarb]

I still see this as a potential gimmick.

They come out and say, "We can assure you this didn't come from us blah blah blah ... of course we stand by our loyal customers and would never dream of blah blah blah" and then they now have a TON of attention.

Or:

They say, "We have replaced those on the board of directors that approved this regrettable action ... blah blah blah ... and we hope their unapproved actions ... blah blah blah ... continued prosperity between us and our valued suppliers ... blah blah blah"

I'm not sayin' it's so ... Just throwin' an idea out there.  Something this blatently ignorant and completely devoid of any chance of success just seems fishy to me. 

[Mr Jake]

The fact that they left it to small/medium suppliers makes me think darth is right really. They couldn't afford to piss off a large supplier, but a small one might not beable to afford to lose the business just because of something like this.

[Redwall]

Something this blatently ignorant and completely devoid of any chance of success just seems fishy to me.

You try to sound jaded but really you're just an optimist!

(Never assume malevolence for what incompetence sufficiently explains...)

[Darth Mandarb]

You try to sound jaded but really you're just an optimist!

Damn!  I thought I had everybody fooled!

[Recluse]

The fact that they left it to small/medium suppliers makes me think darth is right really. They couldn't afford to piss off a large supplier, but a small one might not beable to afford to lose the business just because of something like this.

What makes me laugh is that the return letter from the supplier makes it seem as though A&R is a smaller franchise. Which only increases the irony. It would seem that A&R, which has apparently been struggling, has just cut off their own head.

You'll also note that the letter said all of the "unprofitable" suppliers, which could very easily include large American publishers that have a small Australian presence. I wonder what American companies would say about this.

I also wonder if anyone will actually PAY A&R as a result of this letter?

[Stupot]

There are more effective ways off getting publicity.  And they don't involve alienating half of your distributors.  I don't think this is a stunt or a gimmick.  It's just plain bad management.