Dear Law-libbers:
I know it's late Friday afternoon and I could be headed for home, but
something caught my attention and I had to share it with all of you.
Have any of you noticed the postage and handling charge on the CBC books
coming out of the West Group? Today, we received the 1997 pocket parts
to Norris, "The Law of Seamen." For a total of 407 pages weighing 12
ounces, we have been charged $170.00 plus postage and handling of $11.90
for a total of $181.90. This actual cost of the pocket parts represents
a 13.33% increase over 1996. The cost of the 1996 pocket parts
represented a 36.36% increase over 1995. Thus, over the span of just
two year's time, we are paying 54.54% more to supplement this
three-volume set. My support staff discarded the 1996 pocket parts so I
can't tell you the exact number of additional pages which are in the
1997 pocket parts, but I would hazard to guess that 90% of the material
is nothing new.
But I write not so much to complain about the egregious price increase
but of the fact that, according to my account manager at West Group,
future CBC shipments are going to have an automatic shipping and
handling charge of 7% tacked on. And worse yet, shipping and handling
for West Publishing Company books is also going up significantly. I
thought it odd that we should pay $4.75 shipping and handling for a
4 1/2 pound (72 ounce) "Northeastern Reporter" bound volume and $11.90
for a 12 ounce set of pocket parts (1/6th the weight). Obviously, the
bean counters at Thomson have figured out another way to address their
heavy debt load by exacting every last penny from shipping and handling.
We, of course, are going to be paying for their recent purchase of the
crown jewel of legal publishing--it appears sooner, rather than later.
I asked my West account manager about the possibility of batch shipping
our subscription items. After all, I explained, why do we need to
receive the bound National Reporter System volumes immediately upon
publication? We have the advance sheets already sitting on the shelves
and the pocket parts to other West publications already available. In
terms of content, a delay of two weeks would not compromise our patrons
a bit. Why not send us a shipment every two weeks and provide a
corresponding reduction in the accumulated shipping and handling costs.
He thought it was a great idea and promised to bring it to the attention
of his superiors. We probably pay $250.00 - $300.00 per week(a rough
estimate) on shipping and handling costs as it presently stands. What if
we could reduce that by 75% by batch shipping. At $300.00 per week,
postage could be reduced to $75.00 (probably close to the actual postage
cost). That $225.00 per week savings amounts to $11,700.00 per year. No
small bit of change to a small county law library in Texas, or wherever,
struggling with law book inflation on a fixed budget. When you add it
all up, you can see now what the bean counters at Thomson are driving
at. That's why they pay them those big bucks--to sit around and come up
with schemes like these.
So, my suggestion is this. Why don't we all demand batch shipping as an
option for those who want it? In the meantime, we can express our
outrage at these extraordinary shipping and handling charges by
contacting Dennis Beckingham, the individual under whose name the policy
has been implemented. This is also an excellent topic for CRIV to
investigate so that we can formulate a concerted Association response.
On a related point, I couldn't help but point out the stark contrast of
what Thomson is doing with the publishing efforts of Duane Nedrud, who
includes among his credits is a Ph.B., J.D., LL.M, Ford Foundation
Fellow at Northwestern University, former law professor, prosecutor, and
defense attorney who has for many years published a number of valuable
books on the crminal law. His recent book "The Supreme Court and the
Law of Criminal Investigation" (1997) is priced at $15.00 and will be
updated on the Internet at NO COST until the next century (through 1999,
presumably when the next print edition will come out). His URL is:
www.nedrud.com. Nedrud's aim is to get this book out to as many law
enforcement personnel as possible who can then update the text on the
Internet. Sounds like a wonderful model for law professors and others
who can sidestep the megapublishers and deliver timely information at
low cost.
I hope you all have a great weekend (now that I have that off my chest).
Kendall Svengalis
R.I. State Law Library
250 Benefit Street
Providence, RI 02903
401-277-3275
ristlaw@ids.net
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