If you are the kind of person who thinks Wal-Mart is evil, you may want to stop reading now and go about your day.
If you're more apt to think a deal is a deal, carry on.
I'm not much of a Wal-Mart shopper. As I've made clear time and time again, Target is my supplier of choice. Wal-Mart makes me anxious and depressed. BUT, last night when I was searching the Internet for my next book club pick (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks) I remembered a little tidbit from some marketing?/econ?/business? book I worked on last year. I don't remember the details exactly, just something about Amazon and Wal-Mart being in an book online pricing war. I don't even remember who won. But that doesn't matter. My evening went something like this:
* Checked local used bookstore inventory online (no luck)
* Checked library availability including all interlibrary loan options (no luck. wth? popular book!)
* Checked Amazon.com and BN.com (bingo. started the order process on Amazon--almost always the cheaper of the two) but then...
*Remembered to check Walmart.com. (score! cheaper and only $1.97 for shipping.) I even had the option to have it delivered to the store for free, but I decided it was worth the extra couple bucks to avoid driving 20 minutes to the nearest store with two young kids in tow.
I did some more checking, and a number of the books I'm interested in are less expensive at Walmart.com (hardcovers, no less).
Of course they don't have quite the selection as the other two big book retailers, but I'm definitely adding Walmart.com to my book-buying search list. I have a book addiction, and I need a cheap fix.
P.S. I am very sad our local bookstore closed last year. R.I.P. River City Books! I would have loved to have given you my business.
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Good tip! I never think to check Walmart, I'm usually an Amazon devotee.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. After the "good karma" options have been exhausted, go for the best deal!
ReplyDeleteAlso, you should add B&N's used section to your list. You can sometimes find really fantastic deals there.
ReplyDeleteYep, Jacob gets his huge hardcover books used online. I will occaisionally make a trip to the Half-Price Book Store in Apple Valley and stock up from my to-read list, but it's nearly impossible to get in and out of there with the girls.
ReplyDeletei love half-priced books! a friend of mine swears by http://www.half.ebay.com/, but i've never tried it. ben always orders so many books for school that we have amazon prime and i tend to default there since we have the shipping.
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