I also believe publishers should keep to one published rate schedule that is
available to all their customers.
At a recent luncheon, a Westlaw rep said to me that if we were unhappy
with the cost of Westlaw, talk to him, he was sure Westlaw could "work
out a deal" for us. It is not impossible in the computer era to have as
many prices as you have customers and still make bundles of money. Maybe
this is why Westlaw is trying to assert some sort of confidentiality over
the contents of their monthly bills.
It always leaves a bad taste in anyone's mouth when you find out someone
else has got a better deal than you were offered. The customer feels
suckered and cheated by the publisher. And the publisher in turn will be
inundated with requests for the same lower rate. What better reason to
strive to keep these deals confidential?
I would start the process by divulging our rates except, since I am a
believer in "pay as you go," we are probably paying the only published
rate that Lexis or Westlaw has. No special rates or gimmicks here. Sorry.
-----------------------------
William Grady
USF&G Co., Law Library
100 Light St.
Baltimore, Md. 21202
410-547-3649,fax 410-234-2056
wgrady@capcon.net
-----------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:49:16 PST