Reading a book in store: Is it stealing?

[SuperFerret]

Eh, I guess so, but it should be obvious by now that I don't really care that much about it.

 

[Addendum]

But if you call their "collectible action figures" dolls, then they're out for blood

 

[Tron Bonne]

Eh, I guess so, but it should be obvious by now that I don't really care that much about it.

Well, what are you still doing here silly super powered ferret

Well when I read comments were some get so offended over in-store reading of a 3 dollar comic, geek rage is an apt term

I don't think anyone has gotten "offended" here

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Well, if we're talking comic books here, which I mostly was, I can think of a lot of those that I've really only read once. Plus, nowadays, comics don't take anymore then 5-10 minutes to read. In bigger stores like BAM! and Borders it's easy to take a seat in the back of the store and read one or two before any of the employees say anything to you. Shoppers maybe would say something, but they tend to mind themselves.

MY BAM has comfy chairs, which I see people all the time grab a stack of books, comics, manga, etc., grab a coffee from Joe Muggs, and sit for hours either flipping through or reading the books. None of the employees seem to have a problem or anything. Do I believe it is stealing? Depend son the situation for me. A comic shop, thumbing through seems fine to me. Standing in what is usally a smalelr store reading through a few cmoics all the way I find stealing. On the other hand, somewhere like BAM which invites it, I don't find stealing because they don't seem to.

 

[Obi-Ron]

Reading is never stealing, that's just stupid.

 

[BrianWilly]

I've been regular at about four comic book stores in the Bay Area and not a single one of them have ever been bothered by people reading in the store. Two of them have literally said directly, "Nah, we don't mind."

I spend anywhere from twenty to fifty dollars a week on comics. If no one's gonna stop me from browsing through two or three other stories that I don't like enough to physically buy, then I'm certainly not going to stop myself.

 

[Ipodman]

My bookstore has collected editions, and they are sealed up with plastic wrapping, but most of the wrapping has been torn off. I dont believe it... it has been like that for years... the books have dog ears torn covers, and they are thrown everywhere.
And then theres the kids on the floor which just leave the books on the floor after peering through them...

 

[Silverstein]

The only time reading in a bookstore is stealing, is if you use the book for a scholastic endeavor. So for instance if you visited your college's bookstore and did homework out of the textbook at the school...that would be stealing.