On why rioters don't loot bookstores

[conuly]

Let's suspend disbelief for a while, and assume that I was rioting and indulging in a mad looting spree. I don't think a book shop would be my first port of call. A book shop is a place for browsing and leisurely reading of blurbs. "Raah!" say the rioters. (I don't know if rioters really do say "raah!" but let's assume that they do, like dinosaurs

Comments

[elenbarathi]

I suppose if it was a bookstore you frequented, so that you already knew exactly where all the books you wanted were, and could just run through grabbing them and popping them into your bag. (I assume all smart looters bring their own bags, rather than relying on the stores they loot to provide them.)

But... if it's a bookstore you frequent, no doubt it's a place you like, and would want to come back to after the riot was over. I'd think anybody but a dyed-in-the-wool sociopath would feel icky about robbing such a store - not to mention the fact that bookstore clerks recognize bookstore frequenters, because, as you say, we hang out a long time browsing, so there is a high probability of getting busted.

"Looting something that's on a 3 for 2 offer is clearly better than looting something that's sold at full price."

No it's not; quite the contrary.It's better to buy stuff on sale, because one pays less for it, but the whole point of looting is that one doesn't pay for it at all. Therefore, one would skip the sale table and go directly to the hardcover first editions.

Except that those books are heavy, and they take up a lot of space at home too. One could cram several times as much reading material into one's trusty looting-bag if one went for the paperbacks instead.

[conuly]

not to mention the fact that bookstore clerks recognize bookstore frequenters, because, as you say, we hang out a long time browsing, so there is a high probability of getting busted.

Back before 9/11, my mother one day went to meet me at the Borders at the WTC. She'd never been to that one with me before, but the staff immediately glanced at her and went "Oh, your daughter's holed up in the sci-fi section upstairs!"

(If I ever ran out of books, I spent my time productively reshelving the books more careless shoppers had just shoved in wherever, so you can imagine they didn't mind seeing me there!)