Amazon eats Book Depository, and by the way, you’ve been ripped off

You may have heard that Amazon, the world’s biggest online bookseller, has just purchased Book Depository, the world’s cheapest online bookseller. Some people are upset about this, because monopolies are bad, or because the prices on Book Depository might go up, or because the range might go down, or because they might stop selling books all together. Amazon certainly seems to be phasing them out in favour of apps, Blu-Rays and whatever this is:

No joke, this item has a four-star rating and is called “Hillbilly Butt Pads”.

These are all legitimate concerns. But what most people are complaining about is that Book Depository has wordwide free shipping, and Amazon doesn’t. They’re worried that Book Depository’s free shipping might disappear.

I’m here to reassure you. “Free shipping” won’t ever disappear from Book Depository, or from any other website - because there was never any such thing.

No post office in the world offers free postage, which means online shops have a choice. They can pass their shipping costs on to their customers, or they can build them into their prices. (This is sometimes called “passing them on to their customers.”)

The only real difference is that if the shipping is “free”, you get overcharged if you live near the seller. Or if you buy more than one item. Or if you thought the shipping was actually free.

“But hang on,” you might be thinking. “Book Depository’s books were so cheap that their prices couldn’t possibly have included hidden shipping costs.”

I agree. In fact, when I first discovered Book Depository, I wondered how the heck they were doing it. Now I know - they were operating at a loss, in order to recruit enough customers that Amazon would buy them. Mission accomplished.

MITIFOTIT:
Most Interesting Thing I Found On The Internet Today

While I’m trying to be funny and depressing at the same time (“Ha - oh.”) you might want to check out SMBC, who does it much better.