Lou Rosenfeld's dashboard

Hi Mech, I totally understand the need to rant. I'm frustrated as well that we can't seem to have books delivered to your specific address. And I don't like wasting books either; it's not good business, especially if it doesn't result in a happy customer.

We'd be glad to ship via UPS/Fedex overseas (and make this option available). But we then get criticized by customers for charging too much, when in fact we are actually undercharging for almost all overseas deliveries (Singapore for certain). Most customers opt for the lower cost shipping option, via USPS and local postal services, which don't typically offer tracking numbers. So we end up in this no-win situation.

I'm sure Singapore's postal service is excellent, as is the USPS. However, they do make mistakes, and they have repeatedly in shipping to your particular address (we've successfully shipped to other addresses in Singapore, I might add). I keep wondering if there isn't a problem at your mail room, rather than with the postal service; is this something you can investigate? Books often "disappear" in the black hole of buildings' mail rooms.

While you may see it as the "easy way out," I see crediting you (and not charging you for the digital edition) as the only way to ethically serve you here unless you wish to opt for a higher priced shipping option. I'm not sure how else we can assist you, but I'm open to suggestions.

Finally, your order via Amazon will unfortunately be no different. Amazon presently does not fulfill Rosenfeld Media orders; they simply send them to us and we fulfill them the same way we would if you purchased from us directly. We're exploring new overseas distribution options, but until then, we can at least provide our overseas customers with our digital editions, which arrive immediately and have no shipping charges.

I appreciate your input, even if it is a rant, and I look forward to your suggestions on how a small US-based publisher like us can serve you better.

First thing, I need to apologize for my false assertion/assumption that the delivery has anything to do with the Store or the charging fee. I think I made a mistake in linking them which is totally false.

Next, I need to rant.. that's all.... :(

If books are delayed but 'arrived', then I can accept it no problem. What I cannot accept is that things ordered are not sort of delivered with at least high success rate. How can I trust RM to be able to deliver if I keep on encountering MISSING ITEMS that RM itself cannot even tracked.

So what happen to the previous Mental Model books I ordered which you told me you have in fact delivered 2 more books to me... remember that!

So altogether you are wasting 3 Mental Model books on me and you have no ideas where they go or even launch an investigation!

I have never personally encounter such problem with Amazon or any UPS services.

Of course shipping is out of your control. But tracking order and making sure is not! My country is not un-reachable to you. In fact, our shipping port is sort of number one in the world for a very long time (PSA if u want to know it).

I also have not agreed for you to credit me back. Twice you have offer to credit me back... remember on the first Mental Model book, you offer to credit me back and I rejected it because I know the book I am getting is of great quality and I simply just want the book.. but you choose the easy way out anyway and that is "credit me back".

Your service totally let me down... I will continue to purchase RM books because of their quality but through Amazon with at least a tracking service and no BLACK HOLE issues!

Mech: the delay has absolutely nothing to do with our store's design, although we would gratefully welcome your constructive feedback on how we can improve it. (It's far better now than it was two months ago, thanks to our customers' input.)

The delivery problem also has nothing to do with our pricing, which, at US$15, is by no means extreme. It is lower than what other publishers like O'Reilly and Peachpit charge and lower, I might add, than our costs.

While I understand your frustration, you have ordered the book with full knowledge that, as with any item that is shipped overseas, there is the possibility of a delay. And I'm sure you realize that this delay is out of our hands; we shipped your book less than 24 hours after your order. At that point, the shipping service either does its job properly or, occasionally, doesn't. There also can be problems with the book not being properly forwarded once it arrives at the customer's building or mailroom.

Even though these problems are completely outside Rosenfeld Media's control, we almost always send out new copies to our customers in such circumstances. But it sounds like delivering to your location is exceedingly difficult; we simply can't afford to send additional copies to your address. So I will issue a full credit to you later today with the expectation that, if the book does arrive, you will do the honorable thing and inform us so that we can reissue the charge.

Right, but Amazon has a Canadian web store (with, I'd guess, a fulfillment center located in Canada).

In any case: agreed (and it's one reason we sell immediate-gratification zero-postage digital editions too). In fact, we're exploring creating a print-optimized digital edition (currently our digital books are designed for on-screen use, not printing, though you can certainly print them too).

We're also starting to explore reasonable means for getting our book into non-US Amazon stores. One reason we don't right now is that the economics of dealing with what is essentially the Web-based bookselling monopoly aren't good for any publishers, much less small ones in start-up mode. Amazon is becoming increasingly predatory, so while we can't avoid them, we do try our best to survive on direct sales.

* Amazon: $9 (but of course, that's amazon.)

It just bugs me that it's the same price to ship it across the world as it is for an 8 hour drive. Even with the dollar at par we still get dinged everywhere :(

Not extreme at all, unfortunately; shipping costs--which are out of our control, obviously--are going up with all carriers. We are actually subsidizing all overseas shipments at US$15.

For comparison's sake:
* O'Reilly: $19.74
* Peachpit: $18.00

Hey Josh, what a coincidence, I had the exact same remark! Indeed the font is too thin, while certain characters have distracting elements. I'm not familiar enough with the technical terms of typography, but the "arms" of some characters have rather heavy ends, compared with the thinner parts.

Another thing that they could do, is using a slightly bigger font-size.

Besides that: Great book, and awesome customer service :-)

Just posted some additional thoughts and questions regarding printer-friendly digital editions on our site: http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announc...

Aileenf, selling a PDF version designed especially for printing is a very interesting suggestion. We'd need to take the version we send to the printer and at least remove all the toner-hungry design elements (e.g,. dark backgrounds found on our chapters' first pages). But it's feasible.

But is it something that many people are clamoring for? I'd love to hear more thoughts on this idea. Anyone else struggling with the same issue?

I take the point about Amazon's fees etc. And the digital version seems a pretty good solution.

However, I am inclined to print out digital books, for ease of reference, reading away from the computer, etc. And, while the appoach of optimising the digital version for on-screen use is great.... for on-screen use.... the 374 pages make it a bit prohibitive to print out....

Maybe there could be alternative (screen and print) digital versions.... maybe we could choose when ordering or maybe you'd be kind enough to supply both to a "digital" customer.....?

Hi Philip, we'd love to be there. But... publishers are being crushed by middlemen and retailers, including Amazon, which require 55%-70% of the list price of the books you purchase. That's why we opt to sell through two chief channels: directly (where for the same price as the paperback you'd purchase on Amazon, we'll also provide you with the book's digital edition), and via Amazon's Marketplace program, which charges a much smaller commission to publishers (enabling us to stay in business).

Unfortunately, because we don't participate in Amazon's standard Advantage program (at a 55% clip), they won't list us in Amazon.uk or other non-US Amazon stores.

One reason we sell a digital edition (again, directly at http://rosenfeldmedia.com) is to cater to customers who understandably don't want to pay shipping fees. Our digital books have been designed and tested for on-screen use, but of course you can print them too.

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. We're open to exploring different sales channels, but at this point, I have a hard time seeing how we can offer the value we do and be a viable business with a different approach.

(blushing) – Lou Rosenfeld, on June 02, 2008 00:34

Thanks for the admiration! We really love them too. There are more on the way from the same family. And all credit goes to Jason Kernevich of The Heads of State (http://theheadsofstate.com), a design firm based in Philadelphia.

I'll second Victor's suggestion. I think the Netflix model is a good one. It's also what Amazon uses with its Marketplace third party vendors. The magic is in sending a quick and easy-to-respond-to email just after an interaction of some sort. With Get Satisfaction, that interaction would be the one with the company in question. Take the "How does this make you feel?", throw'em in an auto-generated email, and send them to the person who just had a (hopefully positive) interaction with a company.

Or (urk) do you already do this? Even if you do, at least the hopefully good stuff will be more prominent, rather than being buried in a comment (like this one).

totally agree. it's a great idea. thanks, lou! also, as an aside, your books have the prettiest covers i've ever seen. – Lane Becker, on June 01, 2008 21:06

I love this idea. Simple and quick interactions! – Thor Muller, on June 01, 2008 19:44