MEPs must vote on a floor price for book delivery – archyworldys

Each era has its Homeric battles to defend the book. The National Assembly must examine, Wednesday, October 6, a bill “Aimed at improving the book economy and strengthening equity between its players “. The text must impose a flat rate for delivery per work. Forty years after the adoption of the Lang law who introduced the single book price to fight against the dumping of Leclerc hypermarkets, this time, the e-commerce giant Amazon is in the sights.

Since 2014, the platform charges 1 cent for the delivery of books, which independent bookstores see as unfair competition and circumvention of the single book price. According to the Syndicat de la librairie française (SLF), the mailing of a book costs between 6.50 and 7 euros to booksellers. The latter cannot be competitive on the Internet: either they lose control if they fully pass on the shipping costs, or they send the book while cutting back on their already very low margins.

The pandemic has rekindled this quarrel since, in November and December 2020, the State took charge of the shipping costs of booksellers so that they align with the quasi-free service offered by Amazon, but also by Fnac – which delivers its 2.3 million subscribers free of charge to Fnac + – or through Cultura and the very large bookstores, which offer almost free shipments beyond a certain order amount. These two months of grace had made it possible to multiply by five the online sales of French bookstores.

Backwards

Everything has an end insofar as the State cannot create or perpetuate new public aid intended for bookstores, without contravening European law. Taking the problem backwards, Senator Laure Darcos (Essonne, Les Républicains) intends to introduce minimum shipping costs, fixed by decree, which will apply to shipments of books, including as part of loyalty programs. On September 29, the Cultural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly approved this text, regardless of political tendencies. Already adopted in the Senate, it will not go back to second reading but will go directly to a joint committee.

“The real impact will depend on the tariff applied: too low, it will not modify the market, and too high, it will generate a deadweight loss for the sector”, summarized Géraldine Bannier (Mayenne, Modem), rapporteur of this commission. On this crucial question which will be decided by Arcep, Bercy and the Ministry of Culture, opinions differ. Guillaume Husson general delegate of the SLF militates for a high price, between 3 and 5 euros. For his part, Jean-Luc Treutenaere, president of the Syndicate of Cultural Leisure Distributors (SDLC) which brings together Cultura, Decitre or the Furet du Nord, recommends 2.90 euros, the price charged for second-hand books. “If the sending of a pocket book sold for 7 euros is charged 5 euros more, this will be very dissuasive”, he pleads.

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