Closure

The brick-and-mortar portion of the books and printed resource material supplier for my denomination announced it will close next spring. The news wasn't well-received by some folks, who will try to convince the publisher to keep some of the physical stores open.

The protestors have some points on their side. The publishers will be reducing their operation to the call-in and online ordering services only, and both of those, shall we say, suck. I recognize that's not a theological term, so I'll recast it for those with delicate sensibilities by paraphrasing John 11:39: They stinketh. At a previous church, I got tired enough of paying for expedited shipping that arrived late, incomplete orders and a website that featured the best user interface 1996 had to offer that I stopped using them altogether. I ordered material printed by my denominational press through Amazon. For less than I could order it from the denominational store, even considering my ministerial discount.

But the stores were no prize either. Of course a church book store shouldn't open on Sunday, but limiting Saturday hours to 10 AM to 4 PM is just clueless. Too often, the kind of denomination-specific material that can't be found anywhere else wasn't available at the store. Some of their shortcomings weren't their fault; my denomination hasn't lit the world on fire with quality authors, curricula and material, so much of what the stores stocked could be found at other religious bookstores, some of which stayed open until as late as 7 PM on Saturday.

I have no doubt the stores lost money. But the whole operation loses money, and I have to admit some of my fellow clergy play a role. For many years, people who charged items to their account could carry large balances without interest charges or collection efforts much beyond frequent letters reminding them they owed money. If yer not gonna stock stuff a lot of people buy, you'd better make sure you collect on the stuff you do sell.

Here's hoping Jeff Bezos is a Methodist.

(ETA: I know Mr. Bezos is not a Methodist; it's a joke ;-) Also, the fact that the publishing house is closing all the stores is another sign they don't really know what they're doing; a few of them are really very well-run within the confines dictated from the home office and I imagine they turn a profit.)