Inside All Sages, 2005 (via
TBN)
All Sages Books (万圣书园), a book shop in Beijing’s Haidian district, strictly enforces a rule that all customers must check their bags.
Intended to prevent shoplifting, the policy is an annoyance to customers who would rather not endure the hassle of checking items, and an unacceptable offense to others who don’t like feeling like criminals whenever they want to browse for books.
But it’s not entirely effective, particularly when winter comes. The store store’s official microblog discussed the issue in a series of updates on December 1:
18:25: Winter is here, and once again the bookstore has begun to lose books. Those parka-wearing people in the store swaying with a purpose are truly frightening. We can’t just put up security cameras all over the place in an academic bookstore! My reader friends, please help us. If you see an unscrupulous person, please tell us. Thanks! One woman once stuffed two books into a handbag.
18:35: We are not afraid of people who steal books to read. What we fear are the ones who steal books to sell. They work together to steal large books in particular, and then they sell them to China Bookstore. Someone selects a book and sends a text message, and then a woman or a student-like man comes to steal it, and they get your staff to help them locate the book. The coats they are wearing are specialized and have a layer of inside pockets. The China Bookstore in Haidian sources its large books directly from us.
18:37:Doll’s nest: Install a magnetic gate. The magnanimous won’t be offended, and you needn’t be too gentle with those who misbehave. (I’m simply puzzled as to how they could do this at such a fine bookshop.)
Reply: There are anti-theft gates and security cameras, and there’s an old retiree from the Haidian Coal Plant to watch things…..but they’re better than you! They’ve got specialized anti-magnetic devices.
18:50: There are some related businesses I won’t do because I am well aware they they will bring harm to my staff. Second-hand books, for example. They might steal to achieve results. You can’t always just send only your most trusted people to collect books, because they’ve got to learn other positions. It’s like in a café: cups are always getting broken, and a manager could say that things will be recorded, and compensation exacted. But I am convinced that this system creates lies. I just have everyone voluntarily note things down, without requiring compensation, and it’s a lot simpler.
19:07: Sometimes the annoyances are enough to make business itself uninteresting….For example, you carefully arrange good books on the counter, 100 yuan apiece, and a day later eight are missing, carried off by people by supplying books exclusively for China Bookstore. They sell a book to China Bookstore for 20-30% of the price, and then China Bookstore marks it up for sale. A dishonest, unsafe society isn’t good for anyone. After they sell the books, those book thieves might end up getting their wallets stolen!
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