Re: [xml-dev] XML for Video, Pizza Shops & TakeOut

[David Brownell <david-b@pacbell.net>]

>        Same deal with book stores -- when you
> mix brick-and-mortar chains with online, you can do things like look up
> a book online and request that it be held at the nearest Borders with
> stock so you can go pick it up without waiting for UPS (too bad Borders
> or B&N doesn't do that). 

As for why that is, it's a "good service" model.  And there's a
cost to it:  shipping to a store and holding till sale-or-shipback
(much like the independents have always worked), vs shipping
direct, with fewer returns and no added overhead.

Two of my local independent booksellers used to work that way,
before they went out of businesss.  (Shortly after B&N opened
a huge store in what used to be a nice independent movie house,
and generally drove up commercial rents.)


> One potential answer to this dilemma is to
> have the independents pool their resources and provide a service.
> ... I thought this was an interesting example of
> how the independents can provide a competitive alternative to the
> monolithic services.

... at the price of creating yet another monolithic service?  :)

I'd rather see the pooling be locality-centric than be another
excuse for global consolidation.  If local culture is going to
consolidate, the control should stay in local hands.

- Dave