The Trouble with Free Shipping

I thought it would be quite useful to own a 1/4" seam guide for piecing quilts, so I popped over to Amazon and found one with excellent ratings for $9.99. "But wait," crooned Amazon. "Just add $15.01 to your order and we'll ship it for free." I really hate paying for things if I don't have to, especially shipping, and especially if there's something else I'd buy anyway, whether from Amazon or elsewhere. This time, exceptionally, none of my saved items qualified for free shipping; they were all from independent sellers. That's when a $10 subtotal became a $109 subtotal. No joke, I signed on for a seam guide and I wound up ordering a Kindle too.

Please don't tell my mother-in-law. She tried very hard to get me a Kindle for my last birthday and, when that didn't work, again for Christmas. Both times I turned it down because I truly believed that it didn't fit my lifestyle. That was before I started a book club. Personally, I've always been content to wait my turn for library copies of the books I want to read, but it's not exactly fair to insist that half a dozen women drop everything, buy the book that's just become available to me through the library, and then meet to discuss it within three weeks because that's all the time I have before it's due (for, you see, books with queues are non-renewable). No, these ladies might actually like a say in what we read and when! So now I can be flexible, save about half the cost of a new release in traditional book format, and in less than a year of book club meetings pay for the Kindle with that savings. I can also read in bed a lot more comfortably, without smashing pages or tearing dust jackets when I fall asleep, and the whole family can listen to audiobooks on long car trips without lugging around piles of CDs.

Perhaps my lifestyle is changing to fit Kindle...