After completing my most recent post about Snow Falling on Cedars I realized I still hadn’t bought Raven by Allison Van Diepen yet. I instantly had an impulse to make a purchase. Needless to say, when you’re shopping for something like books you can’t just stop at one. Before I knew it there were three other titles I wanted.

Four years ago I was given a gift card to Borders for my birthday or Christmas, I can’t remember now. Tonight was the night for it to  finally be used! I was a bit afraid that it had expired. In fact, the current Borders gift cards aren’t even designed the same way for the system to read so they must have really had to adjust to even accept my purchase. But I digress…

So I have all of my books added to my cart and whatnot, ready to checkout when I realize that my cart has 2 books in it instead of four like I selected. How did this happen? Well, Borders decided it was a smart decision to separate new purchases from used purchases. Seriously? I literally had to create a username for the site borders.com and then a completely new username for usedmarketplace.borders.com. Even worse was the discovery that my gift card was not to be accepted for any used marketplace purchases. Bonus!

Could you imagine if Amazon separated new and used items into two different stores? The notion in itself is ludicrous. What is Borders thinking? No wonder they are on the brink of bankruptcy. In a world where Amazon is a digital version of Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble is among the most stable stocks on the market(they aren’t going anywhere), Borders is manipulating its online customers like this? Forcing us to create multiple usernames, and pay multiple bills even though everything is being purchased at the same time. Horrible!

I have been to physical Borders stores countless times and I absolutely love the environment. I actually prefer it to Barnes & Noble, although I like their store atmosphere also. My confidence in Borders was so strong from a positive consumer experience that I actually purchased stock in the company back in 2008. I made a small profit before selling it preceding the bank collapse.

About a year later the stock has recovered from a flat line and is still border lining on unstable hovering around $1 per share. Yesterday the stock rose about 35% percent on reports from CNBC that Borders Group may not be going bankrupt after all. That’s great to hear but they have to do something about their internet setup.  You can’t expect to stay afloat without doing such simple things as accepting gift cards and not forcing customers to pay 2 tabs for one purchase.

Now I know why they have been crushed and Barnes & Noble is maintaining position. Borders is doing themselves in. For their sake I hope they change course soon before its too late. And as for my two purchases, since I couldn’t use my gift card for my used books I moseyed on over to Amazon. Would you believe I actually got one of the books new and the other still used for the SAME price as both of them used at Borders? And I only had to pay once!

Starting when I was very young up until I started college, I loved to read all the time. I was a total book worm. Books are so entertaining. I would read everything I could get my hands on and plow through them in a matter of days, sometimes a night. Then life went on, I went to college etc. Well, now I am recommitting to the fine art of written works.

The first book up on my list is Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson. I got this book for Christmas about 3 years ago(wow) and finally have cleared some time out to read it on a regular basis. It’s sad to think I’ve had this book for 3 years. Back in high school I would get 6-10 books for Christmas and they would all be read within 2 months. How things change…

So I’m doing relatively well so far. I’ve just passed the 100 page mark and going strong. Hopefully I can finish soon because the paperback release of Raven by Allison Van Diepen is coming and I have been waiting to read it for a good year now.