Pave: Customers Be Damned!

Le jour 212 de Sarko

What I like in economic patriotism is the word 'patriotism'.

Thierry Breton,
ancien ministre de l'économie des finances
et de l'industrie (2005-2007),
explaining what he likes about today's 19th century France
PARIS March 9, 2006 (AFP/CNN)

AMAZON ORDERED TO END FREE DELIVERY ON BOOKS IN FRANCE

PARIS December 13, 2007 (NYT/IDG) - Amazon.com may not offer free delivery on books in France, the high court in Versailles has ruled.

The action, brought in January 2004 by the French Booksellers' Union (Syndicat de la librairie française), accused Amazon of offering illegal discounts on books and even of selling some books below cost.

The court gave Amazon 10 days to start charging for the delivery of books, which should at least allow the company to maintain the offer through the end-of-year gift-giving season. After that, it must pay a fine of €1,000 (US$1,470) per day that it continues to offer free delivery. It must also pay €100,000 in compensation to the booksellers' union.

Retail prices, particularly of books, are tightly regulated in France.

... The union said it was pleased with the court's ruling, which would help protect vulnerable small bookshops from predatory pricing practices.

... Earlier this year, the union won a similar legal victory against Alapage.com, an online bookseller with operations in France, Spain and the U.K. The appeals court ruled that Alapage must pay a fine of €50,000 for illegal pricing practices including the offer of free delivery.

In topsy-turvy France it is business that must be protected from the customer. Innovations in customer service must not exceed or disturb the business offerings of quaint picturesque French businesses. French unions have established acceptable levels of customer satisfaction. To offer more, to offer anything beyond this is deleterious libéralisme. As a matter of patriotism the citizen-customer is happy with limited service, uncompetitive pricing, and additional fees and charges.

PFFT (What is this?): Fending off the insidious threat of customer satisfaction 3¾ | Rayonnement français ½