Entrepreneurs, one and all

It's never much of a problem at our place, but apparently books in Japan are pretty easy to steal.

"The Japan Publishing Organization for Information Infrastructure Development conducted the survey in January and February by sending questionnaires to 1,161 stores operated by the 14 major bookstore chains including Kinokuniya Co., Sanseido Bookstore Ltd. and Yurindo Co. The JPO received replies from 643 bookstores run by the 14 companies.
The bookstores suffered about 5.5 billion yen in losses in 2007. The retailers are responsible for 1.5 billion yen of this loss, as a result of mistakes, including the mistyping of checks by salesclerks. The JPO estimates the remaining 4 billion yen, or about 1.4 percent of the 290.9 billion yen in combined annual bookstore sales, were losses incurred due to shoplifting."

What's being lifted?

"Manga comic books accounted for about 40 percent of the total value of books that shoplifters tried to steal but were caught by bookstore staff, followed by photo books at 30 percent and novels at 10 percent.
More than 70 percent of the shoplifters apprehended by the bookstores said they planned to sell the stolen books at used bookstores."

I think it's all just tacit admission that manga isn't worth paying for, new or used.

Posted by Dave