Ministry of Putting Things On Top of Other Things

[drwex]

OK, not quite. They call it the Ministry of Reshelving and if I hadn't worked in a bookstore I'd be tempted to help them.

http://avantgame.blogspot.com/2005/08/ministry-of-reshelving.html

Political statements are all well and good but please don't make the serfs' lives harder with them.
(props to sebastian_tombs, who gakked it from ca_snowflake)

Comments

[caulay.livejournal.com]

That depends on what you consider "correctly".

On one hand, putting books where people will actually look for them is doing a service to both the store and the authors, as now the books will sell in greater numbers. On the other hand, if the store management classifies the books "differently", then they are only going to be moved back to the "wrong" spot again as soon as someone notices them.

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

"Correctly" Where store employees will put the book that's lying cross-ways acroos the tops of the row, when they get to that section. Or, not on the floor, not on a shelf that has nothing to do with that author name ("No really! Robinson begins with a 'G'!") not sideways unless it's a face-out and the store has chosen to have the books do that. Not "correctly" where *I* think they should go, but "correctly" where the store empoloyee who has to lug books up and down stairs, ring people up, and make the store look pretty would prefer not to have to put the book for the third time today.

Did I mention, I used to work in a bookstore?

[caulay.livejournal.com]

Did I mention, I used to work in a bookstore?

You're not the only one.

And sometimes a store has really strange policies, the used book store I worked at shelved the most popular authors in a section (genre/letter) at the start of the section. For example, Tom Clancy might be found a the very beginning of "C" in Fiction.

This was a major pain as the list changed weekly and we had to re-shelve based on it.

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

Children's book, for me. Displays were always tough.

Also? That's a little odd. Makes sense, from a amrketting standpoint, but isn't that why you'd have a "bestseller's" table, and shelve books normally within the section?

I'm not talking about reshelving books already properly on shelves though - even if they're in the wrong place, they're not on the floor, or sideways on a shelf two up because the person couldn't be bothered to bend over, or whatever. that's what irks me, and so that's what I fix.

[caulay.livejournal.com]

but isn't that why you'd have a "bestseller's" table, and shelve books normally within the section?

You'd think so, but there was really no no room in the place for even a single table. The only flat space was the counter with the cash register.

We'd seriously outgrown the space but the owner had gotten a sweet deal on the rent years before and wasn't going to move until the lease and all of its extension options ran out. Which happened a couple of years after I left.

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

I've been in bookstores like that. they're fun, although I bet they're hell to work in.

[caulay.livejournal.com]

Especially when the owner/manager wants to re-shelve the books on a weekly basis.

While I loved the store, I'm glad I only worked their part time for one summer.