• beliquititious@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    6 days ago

    I don’t understand why some books are wrapped in plastic at all. Like is it to protect the cover? Prevent people from reading it at the book store? Some weird contract with a vendor that requires a percentage of books be wrapped? A quirk of the shop that printed the book?

    It makes zero sense.

      • beliquititious@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        6 days ago

        Aren’t books shipped in boxes though? I guess maybe a printer might palletize the books and find it cheaper to not wrap the whole pallet?

        It still seems like the individual book is the wrong place to focus on protecting it from damage it might incur in transit.

        • FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          They are shipped on shrink wrapped pallets in boxes. The thing is, your local Walmart/target/airport shop doesn’t need 1500 copies of the latest Patterson novel, they stock a few of each current book in store. Meaning that pallet gets opened up at a hub warehouse and 2-3 books are going to 2-300 different stores along with whatever else has been purchased that week to restock the shelf. That book passes though a lot of hands before you buy it at the register