Price Matching - Moral?

Price Matching. Just to be clear I understand this to be an offer by a retailer to sell an item at the lowest price a customer can find it elsewhere. It is an aggressive marketing ploy, if completely successful aiming at the elimination of all competitors. During the early phase the consumer benefits. He is king, and appears to call all the shots, driving down prices until the retailers creak under the strain. Great for him - until one retailer succeeds in out-muscling the others, perhaps putting them out of business in the process. From this point the boot is on the other foot, and over a period of time prices will rise, as the retailer dominates. This is sheer market economics in the raw, at its ugliest - dog eats dog.

I have been pondering the morality of this as it applies to the market in christian books sold by self proclaimed christian companies. Is it fitting that publishers, bookshops and online retailers employ Price Matching? But then, it is a difficult time as the recession bites and the waterhole is shrinking. Temptation abounds.

Sometimes it is consumers who provoke a price war. Last week we had someone ring up to ask "Do you do price matching?" She had located a book cheaply elsewhere and wondered if we could or would sell it for the same. Now we were not going to play the rival Supermarkets game. But was that a christian attitude for her to have? I freely confess that I myself shop around and look at all the options and deals on and offline when buying goods, so am I just being hypocritical here? However is it not one thing to set your stall out and sell at what you can afford (maximising customer service and other enrichments as well) thus creating healthy competition, and another to advertise Price Matching? I feel that oversteps the mark. Managing a Christian Bookshop, I want to earn a living, but I want others in the same field to as well. Otherwise Biblical principles regarding love to our neighbour are violated. Price Matching discredits christian retailing, and it is shameful for sober christian people to provoke it. Feedback wanted please!

Jeremy

Gleanings From The Past

This is the name of a 3 book series now republished in paperback by Scripture Truth Publications, and new to our bookshelves. The editor was Hamilton Smith, not a name widely known outside Brethren circles. His desire was to bring older classic writers 'back to life' by taking their work and producing a cut down form of them, more accessible to the average reader. Now, considering that he did this around the turn of the First World War, he by far anticipated later efforts like Banner of Truth's Puritan Paperbacks, and Grace Publications' Great Christian Classics series. But there is also one very different and unusual way in which he set about his task. He took material and arranged it by subject. Thus there might be sections entitled 'Afflictions,' 'Contentment,' 'Thanksgiving,' 'Warning,' 'Sin and Guilt,' 'Faith,' etc as well as more closely specific ones like 'Giving,' and 'Reading.' This all has the advantage of encouraging people to dip in and be benefited without being baffled or deterred by the typical Puritan writing structure. Of course it does have the downside of shredding and re-setting, which can put material out of context. I have to say, particularly in the case of Thomas Watson, it would have been much more informative to have cited the source of each dollop. It works more easily with Rutherford's sublime letters, although it will not be pleasing to the purist. But that's not the point! Vol 2 on Gurnall is actually the famousm 'Christian in Complete Armour,' albeit given this thematic treatment. I feel these books do have their place and usefulness. A good point is that the authors are quoted without being tampered with - just some obsolete words are explained, and also the Authorised Version is used.

Try them for £6 each, and let me know what you think of the Hamilton Smith treatment!

Jeremy

Recommended Devotional Readings

Reformation Heritage Books are to be congratulated for being constrained to reprint this classic, after a year of it being unavailable.  Robert Hawker (1753-1827) was vicar of Charles in Plymouth, and conscious of the poor amongst his congregation, published these meditations for them on texts of scripture in small, affordable penny portions.  The eventual result was this Christ-centred devotional, which still satisfies the 'poor in spirit, who are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom.'  I am really pleased to have got a good stock of these on board - possibly the first in the UK to have done so?!  Our price is £24.95, which is not bad for a chunky hardback book (730 devotions for the whole year) now with a stylish new cover design.  Joel R Beeke has written a very informative and warm introduction to Dr Hawker and his ministry, which he feels has been 'largely overlooked by modern scholarship.'  May these daily doses of free grace doctrine be to the benefit of many readers.  I'm using them at the moment and I would encourage you to do so too.  This isn't a sales plug - beg, borrow or buy a copy from whoever you can!  You won't regret it.
'The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions' by Robert Hawker DD.
Jeremy

Books into schools

Back in April we teamed up with the youth worker at our local Anglican church on an initiative to get good Christian books into the local primary schools.  Yesterday we received a pile of thank you letters from the pupils of one of the schools.  We really enjoyed reading through them all and would like to share some of the enthusiasm... (spelling mistakes just add to the charm, all you need to do is read with a Northern accent to really get the message!)
"We would like to say a huge thank you for the books you gave us for ower libary, ower book's we had befor were great but your book's are wonderful"
"Thank you for giving us them free books."
"It was very nice of you to give some books to us I havent read a Book yet but Recan they are gona be Fab, they look really good exspeasli the Jungle Doct's Fables"
"Every week every class goes to Library and that's where the awsome books are kept."
"Thank you for all these amazing books what I'm dyeing to to read all aspsely Water or Goo and Jungle docters fables"
"even thow I have not had the chance to get my hand's on I will one day they look fantastic"
"I want to eny one of them as long as it is a funny on I am ful of funnynes"
"Thank you for the book's like Danger and dedkation [Danger and Dedication] when that is free I will try and get it and book's mak leaning fun.  I am shor i will like it" 
Aren't they great?  and who says children don't read nowadays?
How refreshing!
Lorna

July is Charity Month

It's nearly July so I think it is worth mentioning that for the first time we will be running a Charity Month.   For the month of July we are pledging to give 50p to our chosen charity for every book sold.  The charity we have picked is local to us and one we have mentioned in previous blog posts (see here).  Caring for Life is a charity that works really hard with some of the most shunned in society and they all seem to have a lot of fun in the process.  Take a look at their website and then take a look at ours to decide what book to buy so that you can support them too.  Better still, if you're on holiday in the area during July, buy a book for your holiday reading then pop up to Caring for Life for your lunch - you won't regret the experience! For those not on holiday but having to work their socks off in local offices we will be staying open late every Thursday during the charity month... just for you!
The essential details:

For every book sold, 50p goes to Caring for Life

Late night opening every Thursday until 8pm

I'm hoping our Charity Month will become a regular event so anyone who would like us to consider their favourite charity for our next one please let us know.

Lorna

Think Bookshop, Think Bike

Did you know that this week (18th - 25th June) is designated Independent Booksellers Week? Indies, as they are known, are putting on a splash to remind the public that bookshops do still exist, and can provide a unique service that Amazon or even Tesco cannot match. Events are planned for this week, offers, reading groups...whatever the ingenuity of the managers can conjure up. But it's tough just to survive in the current climate, so you may have to travel a bit to find an Indie and admire the special window displays. How will you travel there I wonder? Co-incidentally it is also Team Green Britain Bike Week as well, and they have all sorts of promos going on to get the nation cycling. So fight obesity! Get your rusting bike out of the garage and do a perfect double whammy - cycle to your local bookshop. Especially if it's a Christian Bookshop! Just think of the health benefits for mind and body... Amazon, etc, promote laziness on both counts. You slouch at a computer and locate a title for purchase which you have been recommended to. No chance to look through it and compare it with others on the same subject, within the pleasant ambience and the informed advice to be found at a well run bricks and mortar bookshop. And, yes, there even are books to be found there which will be cheaper than on Amazon. To prove it check out: http://www.christianbookshopossett.co.uk/product.php?&id=163&
Remember to include Amazon's postage costs.

Katie goes for bricks and books...
Just needs to work on her cycling!








Jeremy

Temptation of Christ

This is not a new book, and certainly not a new author, but I looked at it in the course of preaching sermons on Christ's temptations in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11).  One of the joys of having a Christian Bookshop is the resources it provides for personal use!  Christian Focus Publications have this in their Christian Heritage range, and thankfully have maintained it in print for 15 years or so now.  For £5.99 it is a well-selected, well-edited edition of this careful study of a deep subject.  I believe Maurice Roberts (Free Church of Scotland Continuing minister, ex-editor of Banner of Truth magazine) did a commendable job here.  He has taken Thomas Manton and made his work more suited for reading by someone who has never visited the Puritans before.  But he has not done this by dumbing it down.  He first carefully explains in the Introduction the typical Puritan style and structure of sermonizing.  Then within the text he makes frequent use of square brackets to explain words or obsolete phrases.  This may be a bit OTT for anyone who is used to reading Puritan writings, but the point is that it is targeting a certain (growing?) sector of younger evangelicals who are alienated from such as Manton.  Modern Bible versions have also not helped in this trend.  A generational dislocation from godly and profound authors from the past is a sad injury to the church of God.  Men like Thomas Manton still deserve a hearing - they were above all men of the Bible, and who suffered for it.  He was one of the 2000 men ejected from their livings in 1662, but who still were determined to preach and became an Independent.  In earlier times he had been a chaplain to Oliver Cromwell and preached before Parliament.  So he experienced the same as the Apostle Paul (Philippians 4:12).
This is not a long book by any means, but amply demonstrates the revitalising truth of Christ's full identification with his people in their temptations (Hebrews 2:18), and has many practical applications re struggling against Satan's attacks.
Jeremy