The recent move by the French government ensures Amazon cannot directly undercut small book sellers with free shipping.
US MAINTAINS BOOK SELLER PROTECTION
Other countries have moved in the past to protect small book sellers and encourage the exchange of literature, education, and entertainment media.
The U.S., for example, maintains a 'Media Mail Service' similar to Canada's 'Library Materials Service,' only in the U.S., the extra-low rate is offered to the public.
CANADA OFFERS LOW RATES, BUT NOT FOR INDEPENDANT BOOK SELLERS
In Canada, while public libraries do recieve low-rates, the cost for an independant book seller to ship a book remains fixed at $13.75, prohibiting small book sellers from competing fairly with Amazon and other sellers that ship more than 50 books in a day.
Costs to Ship U.S. Media Mail
The cost of sending Media Mail is determined by your package's weight. For a book that's 1 pound or less, you'll pay $2.75 for shipping with Media Mail. For each additional pound, add 52 cents to your total. For example, shipping a 5-pound book through Media Mail will cost $4.83 in postage. Apr. 5, 2019
~ Source: budgeting.thenest.comA link to an article about cheap book shipping in the us, from thenest.com
CANADIANS ORGANIZE TO RECOMMEND CHEAPER PUBLIC BOOK SHIPPING RATES
The More Canada Steering Committee, an activity of the Canadian Forum Foundation, a project partly funded by the Government of Canada, dedicated to "Increasing Canadians' Awareness and Reading of Canadian Books" recommended to the Canadian government in Janary of 2021A link to More Canada's shipping recommendation, from early 2021 to make the Library Materials Service Canada Post shipping rate available to the public.
