kenbenobi

If you are a member, you could have selected to ship each item when available, and you wouldn't have been charged extra. Assuming you aren't a member, you are likely SOL. You could cancel your December item, which should force everything to ship sooner (whatever your other latest PO is). Note that the date will NOT change on the screen. I tried this, and the date never updated. But I would have to think they would ship sooner, otherwise you could easily call B&N and have them force it to ship (as long as you have no other upcoming pre-ordered items)

kenbenobi

I think you're right. Hopefully normal people (who aren't working the system like us) are using these new coupons, increasing their revenue enough to keep them afloat.

skippy3elf

Borders had been giving out coupons with reckless abandon for years and years before going out of business. They're "membership" was completely free (at least until the very end when they started trying to sell a 'premium' service to people who would pay, but that was like 6 months before they went under). Prior to that all you had to do was sign up via email (with as many email accounts as you wanted) and you would get a steady stream of 25-40% off coupons.

PhantomStranger

Borders was regularly selling media at below wholesale pricing with some of the larger coupon discounts. That was unsustainable.

DoverMath

Borders did not exist where I lived, so I never knew anything about them. But they went away in 2011. Since then, MSRP (the cover price of books or list price of movies) has gone up dramatically. I calculated the amount book prices went up in the past year or two, and the percent increase is almost the same as BN's sales increase they reported in their last fiscal year. Right now, 20% is the new 15% for coupons, but prices are so much higher I think BN is going to be fine. The store is becoming a worse deal every year with the high prices and anemic 10% member discount. Even with a coupon, that rarely gets the price down to the online discount. I used to be 50/50 for store/online purchases, but buy almost everything online now. When I go to the store, though, people seem content to pay the full MSRP for items. I guess casual buyers don't care. Only a few of us seem to max out the discounts because we buy more than most people. But BN seems to still be making money on what they sell even with the coupons.

js2shops

Borders had issues with everything from management to supply chain to opening too many stores, just to begin with. I'm surprised someone hasn't written a book about them yet, ironically. I'm sure there's been a ton of MBA white papers done about them.

1. They went through upper management like crazy. Constant new vision at the CEO level is a bad sign.
2. They were late to the e-commerce and e-reader game, and both were terrible.
3. They had distribution centers to process and sticker product with their own barcode/SKU- this had to cost them a mint in labor and time.
4. They opened too many stores too quickly and had so much product purchased on debt when they went under, it wasn't even funny.

I don't know what is going to happen to BN. I do know that shopping in-store has become a frustrating experience from both a selection and price standpoint, but I love bookstores and will miss them if they go. Publishing is going to have to find SOME way to deliver books besides Amazon or e-readers.

Having known a few folks who have worked there, I can tell you that what's keeping BN afloat are the cafes- it's one of the few unique features they have left, and the markup is incredible.

redcon1

I think the best time for Borders was when they were tied to the Amazon website. When that partnership dissolved, that's when it seemed like their decline began.

As for BN, hopefully those casual folks who don't mind paying full MSRP will keep it afloat for those of us who maximize our coupon savings for at least for a few more years.

redcon1

Well I guess I was wrong again. Never mind.

DoverMath

Got another mailer today. This is the third or fourth one this year. BN is changing their approach. The 20% coupons used to be as rare as diamonds (if you didn't get the e-mails!). Now they're saturating them. The coupons expire Friday, July 29 which is strange. Coupons don't normally expire on Friday.

t3edv

Does anyone have any extra 20% or 15% coupons?

movieman01

I'd greatly appreciate 2 or 3 coupons if any are available. As always, I thank you.

DoverMath

This coupon is off of one item, not the whole order, but is definitely reusable. Best deal since Black Friday/Cyber Monday if you're a member and get free shipping. Probably the best deal until the next Black Friday.

pathman

Definitely just off one item. Also, it doesn't work on Blu-rays or DVDs.

Why So Blu?

Used it to get a nice discount off of a book.

Paul_SD

Finally got my "expedited shipping" order from the 30% off + 40% off deal I placed about 14 days ago.
Spread across three different packages which all showed up at the same time.

Their expedited shipping is a joke. At least everything was well packed this time, with wads of paper to keep the stuff from jostling around too much. No issues either with dents, dings, or loose discs as far as I can see. The time factor doesn't bother me too much since I'm mostly paying the membership fee for access to better coupons as well as no threshold free shipping anyway.
Just glad that there's no damage.

skippy3elf

Holy smokes - B&N closed its Citicorp Plaza location in NYC! I went there yesterday to do some pre-Criterion scouting and was met with a large sign saying they had closed on 6/30. That was one of their Flagship stores in NYC. Wonder if that a sign of more consolidation/cutting losses.

DoverMath

Store closings aren't always the retailer's idea, so you can't read too much into them. Sometimes whoever they're leasing from doesn't want them to renew the lease, so the same space can be used for something more profitable. That happened to the Books-A-Million that used to be near me. B-A-M likes low-rent strip malls, and their landlord made improvements and brought in more upscale retailers.

PhantomStranger

It's likely due to which items get drop-shipped and which are serviced directly by B&N.

hariseldon

UPDATED CODE POST from earlier to reflect new issues. Upcoming current and PRELIMINARY codes .

There is no way to tell if some/all/any these will work immediately after midnight on the dates they're supposed to go live, whether
the add-on type pre-orders will work, or if the Movies+Code discounts will be allowed for any/all until they go active.

There is no way to tell how fast the prices start changing after 12:01am ET on 7/5 -- maybe before 1am like normal, but it could be much slower.
Hopefully since it's on the backside of the holiday the IT guys will have this pre-set and not have to come in at 8am on Tuesday and catch up

These should be Universal codes (for all customers)

Get 20% Off $60 or more
BNTROPICAL July 7, 2016 at 12:01am to July 14, 2016 at 2:59am Eastern Time.


10% Off Orders of $35 to $49.99 or 15% Off Orders of $50 or More
BNSUNNY July 9, 2016 at 12:01am to July 14, 2016 at 2:59am Eastern Time NOTE CHANGE IN DATES

Get 25% Off $100 or more
BNSPARKLER July 12, 2016 at 12:01am to July 18, 2016 at 2:59am Eastern Time.

20% off $75+
BNJULY15 July 25, 2016 at 12:01am to August 3, 2016 at 2:59am Eastern Time

skippy3elf

"$8 off one (1) DVD or Blu-ray with a BN.com Price of $40 or higher. The “BN.com Price” is the price at Checkout before taxes and shipping and handling charges are applied."

I think they finally closed the loop-hole. It used to say that the BN price to be considered for the $40 threshold was the price at the register before taxes and discounts had been applied. Not sure why they quote it as the 'BN.com' price. Probably to make it applicable to online orders as well.

Lipid

JK2F1YBNSSE8 and bnfirework don't work for movies.

Seems that we'll have to wait for some 20% coupons to land or wait until the 7th to use the other ones? What codes were people hoping to use right at midnight tonight?

Randy Hassan

Thanks for posting that. I wondered what happened there.

skippy3elf

Well, I didn't want to believe it but it looks like B&N really did do away with the free 2 month trial membership. I just tried getting one using the "old method" and it no longer comes up as an option when trying to checkout with a new account. They still have the "info page" with the details, but that seems to be a vestigial organ that someone forgot to remove.

skippy3elf

Here's something official on that:

help.barnesandnoble.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/45/kw/membership/related/1

"Please note: The Free 2-Month Membership program has ended and new enrollment is no longer available. Customers who have already signed up for the Free 2-Month Membership will continue to receive benefits through their 2-month term."

hariseldon

A bit disconcerting -- they screwed with the BNSUNNY tiered coupon again and made it far worse.


Take 10% Off Orders of $75 to $124.99, 15% Off Orders of $125+
BNSUNNY July 9, 2016 at 12:01am to July 14, 2016 at 2:59am Eastern Time.

I'm not seeing any damage to the 2 better deals, but that was shocking unless their in the process of updating it more