Barnes & Noble Discount Card

16 years ago

This comment from Cindy in the Borders thread brought up a topic that has rankled me for a long time:

> I much prefer it [Borders] to B/N, I like their reward program that I don't have to pay for

There is no Borders in my town, so I shop at Barnes & Noble frequently. I simply don't like the idea of paying $25 a year to get a 10% discount. Each time I check out and the cashier asks if I have a discount card, I tell them that since I must spend $250 just to break even on the card, I'm not willing to buy one. They usually want to tell me how I can use it in the coffee shop also. Since I make a lot of book purchases online, I don't want to be obligated to make sure I spend at least $250 at B&N. Does anyone else feel this way? Or does this card offer more advantages than I realize?

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Comments (9)

woodnymph2_gw
16 years ago
I agree with you.
sheriz6
16 years ago
I agree, I don't have cards from B&N or Borders as I do most of my book shopping online. I figure if they're charging for a discount, it can't possibly work to your advantage.
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I like them. If they are for a place the receiver enjoys, they can be just as thoughtful as a perfectly selected gift. I love to just get out of the house for a couple hours to myself and spend it browsing Barnes & Noble with a latte from Starbucks. But I'd drop $30 just to get a little me time. So when someone gives me the gift cards to those places, they have given a gift of "me time." I think of them while I'm there, and I'm very thankful they did that for me. My mom sent me one for Christmas to JCPenney so I could pick some new clothes for the new job. She can't be here to shop with me, and if she chose them they might not fit, I need to try them on. What I needed was to do a little shopping, and she sent me shopping trip. Very thoughtful. I gave gift cards to a couple who help me out a lot with kids' activity transportation. I could spend hours picking a gift to show my appreciation. But I spent 10 minutes stopping by a restaurant and movie theatre for gift cards so they can spend few hours together. I bought them a date night, and threw in child care from me. Dinner, movie and babysitter add up, but what couple doesn't need that? So I don't think they are thoughtless at all. Of course they can be. If someone sent DH one to Starbucks he would give it to me. So that just shows no knowledge of what he likes at all. It's not the card or the gift, both can be selected well or badly.
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Personally, I prefer cash. But some feel that's "impersonal". Gift cards are the modern version of the gift certificate or the trendy "check" (or "cheque" to my Canuck-lehead friends) being given as a gift. My gift shopping used to always include a stop at the liquor store for at least one person on the list. I knew that wasn't going to go to waste. A friend used to always give his grandmother a small ham for Christmas because she'd never buy it for herself. Some would be appalled, nay, even insulted if someone gave them grocery stoe food! It needs to be in little jars, in a box, flavors nobody likes, won't eat, and will be given away or thrown away! LOL I'm really bothered when someone says cash is a bad gift, impersonal or whatever. Doesn't anyone get tired of getting trinkets that someone else thinks is cute and you find abhorrent? But somehow that's a better gift than giving someone cash so they can put it toward their electric bill on a month they're a little short, or go to a movie, or put gas in the car to get to work, or put toward the heat bill or into a (heaven forbid) savings account or get the car repaired house reroofed or whatever else. What troubles me is there used to be a saying that it's the thought that counts. I buy someone a gift, it's thoughtful, right? They hate it so they return it or leave it on a shelf or whatever. But that's more thoughtful or personal than cash? I don't think so. If someone is considerate enough to give me cash and trust that I'll make a good decision on what to do with it, that, to me, is thoughtful. Our western society is so hung up on materialism. It's the gift not the thought. We have to spend more on that wedding gift than the Jones' spent or we'll look bad. Doesn't matter what the gift is. I could go on and on but won't. Consider that your Christmas present! :D This time of year often brings out the best, but also the worst in people. Lots of generosity at times, but also greed, selfishness, self-centered thoughts and after all, Christmas is about giving and receiving gifts right? There was a religious event that some people used to get into! :D I'll give you an example of why I don't like gift cards in place of cash. I had my oil changed last summer for about $17. I used a coupon and had it done. Hard for me to do that stuff anymore. :( I got an award from work - a $25 gift card of my choice. I don't shop at Macy's. I don't go on cruises. (I would have appreciated a gift card for the cruise though...) I don't have Staples in the state, much less nearby. There were 2 things I could see myself using. An oil change place or Amazon. I was going to go with Amazon but decided I'd need an oil change before leaving town for a trip so that could be OK. It'd pay for most of the oil change right? Not after it being a $65 oil change! LOL I got another card choice, same thing. I took a restaurant card but now wish I'd gone Amazon. Not sure when I'll get to the restaurant, but not totally sure what I want from Amazon either. Had a voicemail that I have another gift card coming from work. (I must really have them fooled, eh?) If they had options for Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards, gasoline stations, or a prepaid credit card would be preferred. Keep in mind that the designation is important. They bank on people losing them or not using them. Extra profit, not unlike the post office selling stamps that don't get used. That's pure profit. And companies often get a discount so it appears to be more. But it could be worse. I remember when giving a turkey was often a Christmas bonus. Not everyone can use a 15# turkey. Some, a 15# isn't enough anyway. LOL How many people can't use cash?
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rosefolly
16 years ago
Between my husband and me, we have no problem at all spending enough to make the card worthwhile. We buy a lot of books, at B&N, online, at independent stores, and from used bookstores. This is another nice bonus of having a husband who also reads. In fact, he is the one who got the card.

And they just send him a bonus card to get 25% on a single item within a certain time limit. He passed it along to me and I used it on a reference book.

Rosefolly
carolyn_ky
16 years ago
I don't have the discount card for similar reasons, but I do prefer shopping at B&N to Borders. Our Borders has too much stuff that is not books; and, besides, they bought out our wonderful independent bookstore. They did keep the workers on who wanted to stay, but one of them told me the new people didn't know anything about books, just selling, and I don't see any familiar faces anymore. Before Christmas, after searching for a clerk, I asked for a copy of Pinocchio. All they had was a video.
cindydavid4
16 years ago
Thats funny carolyn - where I live its the B&N that has more non book stuff! I prefer the Borders, where I am always getting 30% off coupons and reward points for every dollar spent.

That being said I make an effort to support my local indie. It helps that they have a frequent reader card, so once you fill up a card, you get 10 off your next purchase. Helps a bit.
veronicae
16 years ago
I get a coupon at least once a month from B&N that allows me to add another 40% off on books, and coupons on specific books. With three grandchildren, 8 kids and kids-in-law, a mother who reads heavy (in all meanings) history books, my husband and myself, I spend well over $250/yr in B&N alone. I can spend that much on one day of Christmas shopping!
colormeconfused
16 years ago
I have a B&N discount card, a Borders reward card, and a Books-A-Million. Unfortunately, the Books-A-Million store closed unexpectedly and unannounced a few weeks ago, but out of the three stores, it was my least favorite. I also buy many books online from Amazon because they're usually cheaper that way.

However, I purchase items from B&N frequently, in store and online. Often, if you purchase books from B&N online, they're cheaper than in the store, and you also are able to use your member card for additional discounts. Orders over $25 qualify for free shipping, too. I also buy several cd's a year (I have somewhere between 600-650 stuffed in my entertainment cabinet and storage chest), so that helps justify the member card for me as well. I get discounts via e-mail and through snail mail.

I like Borders, too, but not as well as B&N. Of course, I was just at Borders today and came home with a big bag of goodies, right after I swore I wouldn't buy any books for a while.
georgia_peach
16 years ago
The only bookstore convenient to where I live is B&N, and in my office park there is a little B. Dalton (part of the B&N family now). I use both stores, but don't use their discount membership program. I used to refuse the program because I purchased most of my books from Amazon, but in the last few years I probably have spent enough (between purchases for myself and for my kids) to make it worthwhile. But still I stubbornly refuse. I hate the thought that stores are using this information to build profiles on me and track everything I spend money on to market more stuff to me. Maybe I should be a character in a Philip K. Dick book (paranoid!), but I still prefer to pay more money than relinquish my privacy. The guy at the coffee store is baffled why I don't join, because I buy lattes there a lot. I do, however, use the discount program offered by my grocery store, because it just doesn't make economic sense not to.
ccrdmrbks
16 years ago
We all use my B&N card-DD for grad school books, DH for books and magazines, and DS for whatever. In fact once when my DS was shopping and had forgotten to grab the number, he told them his mother had one and they looked it up for him and applied the discount. If you buy with a credit card they track you whether you have a discount card or not-the only way to be completely anonymous is to only use "folding money" and never give them a chance.
I also buy much online and always manage to qualify for free shipping!
The Borders program is free but I often find that the coupons don't fit with my schedule-two days to buy DVDs, etc.

Barnes & Noble Discount Card

Comments (9)

woodnymph2_gw

sheriz6

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