Additional retailers to reopen from June 15th

[Bletchleyite]

But you can still pick up the books - presumably instead of putting them back on the shelf, you'll put them somewhere else for quarantine/reshelving later.

That will give other customers peace of mind and will probably increase sales overall as some customers wouldn't want to risk handling a book recently handled by other customers.

The problem is there'll be none left in fairly short order. I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm buying a novel and don't know what to buy, I tend to pick up maybe 5-10 different ones, reading the summary and looking at the cover, before choosing one or maybe two. If I know what I want to buy, I buy it from Amazon.

This (as well as interacting with expert staff for advice), to me, is the whole point of physical bookshops, and indeed physical shops of any kind. If you know precisely what you want to buy in pretty much any product area, it is easier and cheaper online.

 

[Bletchleyite]

So perhaps a dispenser at the entrance to allow people to cleanse their hands before browsing? Nah! Way too sensible and obvious....

I've noticed motorway services doing this. Now you can actually get hold of the stuff, dispensers at the entrance and around the store do seem to be the way to go - people will use them, and if staff see anyone who hasn't they can always direct them to it.

 

[trebor79]

But you can still pick up the books - presumably instead of putting them back on the shelf, you'll put them somewhere else for quarantine/reshelving later.

That will give other customers peace of mind and will probably increase sales overall as some customers wouldn't want to risk handling a book recently handled by other customers.

Well supermarkets haven't been quarantining onions, bags of vegetables, packets of cereal or, indeed, books and neither I nor anyone else I known has succumbed to an infection by that route.
It's a complete nonsense policy devised by people who are well intention but literally have no clue what they are doing.

 

[AM9]

It has been said that masks are not to protect the wearer, but those around you, however if you sneeze, and you have a lose fitting mask, then the 'droplets' can and do escape out of the sides, although of course not directly ahead of you. ...

Yet some will stay within the fabric of the face covering, so better than not bothering to do anything at all.

 

[yorkie]

Can we not discuss the pros and cons of wearing masks / face coverings in this thread please

 

[AM9]

Apologies, I was answering a post about masks.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Personally, I think the drivel about quarantining books is nonsense. Pre-coronavirus, people would sneeze, cough, touch their noses and then touch books, read them, put them back on the shelf etc. I've even seen people come out of coffee shops (where they're in bookshops) and pick up books with cake crumbs, bits of chocolate on their fingers which then marks them. For me, the whole experience of going to a bookshop is to browse a particular book before buying. Amazon often have limited views or no views at all and often, books arrive in the post dogeared. At least I can check a book first for marks and signs of wear before buying.

Often, people will want to try on clothes to ensure they fit. Just because you're a size A doesn't mean a jacket of Size A will fit. And people will take clothes off the clothes rail to inspect. Will they be removed for "quarantine?" You don't see loose fruit and veg being removed for "quarantine" after someone has picked up and seen a bruise or rotton patch, or even any other foodstuff.

This is a total and unecessary over-reaction by over-zealous 'elf n safety boffins who don't live in the real world

 

[Ianno87]

Personally, I think the drivel about quarantining books is nonsense. Pre-coronavirus, people would sneeze, cough, touch their noses and then touch books, read them, put them back on the shelf etc. I've even seen people come out of coffee shops (where they're in bookshops) and pick up books with cake crumbs, bits of chocolate on their fingers which then marks them. For me, the whole experience of going to a bookshop is to browse a particular book before buying. Amazon often have limited views or no views at all and often, books arrive in the post dogeared. At least I can check a book first for marks and signs of wear before buying.

Often, people will want to try on clothes to ensure they fit. Just because you're a size A doesn't mean a jacket of Size A will fit. And people will take clothes off the clothes rail to inspect. Will they be removed for "quarantine?" You don't see loose fruit and veg being removed for "quarantine" after someone has picked up and seen a bruise or rotton patch, or even any other foodstuff.

This is a total and unecessary over-reaction by over-zealous 'elf n safety boffins who don't live in the real world

Up there with people who sneeze into Metro newspapers then leave them on the train for the next person to read...

 

[Cowley]

Up there with people who sneeze into Metro newspapers then leave them on the train for the next person to read...

Is that a thing?

 

[sheff1]

Is that a thing?

Certainly. I have seen it on more than a handful of occasions, which is why I always take a Metro from the pile in the dispenser at my arrival station rather than pick up one onboard.

 

[Skymonster]

I read that Waterstones will "quarantine" books for 72 hours if they are touched and not purchased. How will that work then? Will staff train customers in order to grab any offending novels and drop them into sealed plastic bags?

Ooo, I think I'll go into Waterstones once it reopens and surreptitiously try handle a book and put it back again without the staff noticing! Then I'll walk out with a smug grin on my face. And yes, I will happily pick up a book even if I think someone else might have done the same before me.

 

[Huntergreed]

Reopening was confirmed at the briefing today so definitely going ahead, however there was a reference that this will be part of the 'new normal' with distancing enforced throughout. I do hope this isn't the case in the long term.

 

[MikeWM]

Reopening was confirmed at the briefing today so definitely going ahead, however there was a reference that this will be part of the 'new normal' with distancing enforced throughout. I do hope this isn't the case in the long term.

There won't be any high streets left in 6 months or so if that's the case. They'll be lucky to make it through the summer.

 

[AM9]

Ooo, I think I'll go into Waterstones once it reopens and surreptitiously try handle a book and put it back again without the staff noticing! Then I'll walk out with a smug grin on my face. And yes, I will happily pick up a book even if I think someone else might have done the same before me.

Fortunately, most people wouldn't delberately put others at risk, very few people would even do it by mistake.

 

[Skymonster]

Fortunately, most people wouldn't delberately put others at risk, very few people would even do it by mistake.

I don’t regarding picking up books that have been picked up by others as a risk. You know the rules by now - wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your face. I really don’t think there’s any necessity for anything else, especially as this seems to be a Waterstones-only thing. If you’re so supportive of it, why don’t you lobby for the same approach in all shops including supermarkets.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Fortunately, most people wouldn't delberately put others at risk, very few people would even do it by mistake.

I'd put that alongside someone deliberately coughing or breathing on someone. Potentially manslaughter if they died as a result. To the OP - don't.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don’t regarding picking up books that have been picked up by others as a risk. You know the rules by now - wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your face. I really don’t think there’s any necessity for anything else, especially as this seems to be a Waterstones-only thing. If you’re so supportive of it, why don’t you lobby for the same approach in all shops including supermarkets.

Up to you if you want to put yourself at risk, but don't put others at risk.

 

[adc82140]

How about this as a better idea Waterstone's: insist everyone uses hand sanitiser on entry and exit. Job done.

 

[Bletchleyite]

How about this as a better idea Waterstone's: insist everyone uses hand sanitiser on entry and exit. Job done.

On entry would do. What people do on leaving the store is up to them, but it should certainly be provided for both directions.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Fortunately, most people wouldn't delberately put others at risk, very few people would even do it by mistake.

Can you supply some evidence that the virus can be spread by people looking at books?

 

[Ianigsy]

The other problem with books is that the price tends to be on the back cover, so you have to handle the book to see how much it is.

The danger for retail generally is that the business of queuing to get into shops becomes so wearing after a couple that a day's shopping becomes unattractive and discretionary spending doesn't happen. At the moment, with any kind of holiday off the cards until at least September for me, I'm paying off debt rather than saving for holidays or spending freely, and I doubt I'm alone in that.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

How about this as a better idea Waterstone's: insist everyone uses hand sanitiser on entry and exit. Job done.

As mentioned elsewhere, far too simple

 

[Bletchleyite]

Can you supply some evidence that the virus can be spread by people looking at books?

The spread, as you well know, is by people touching their face (which is VERY hard not to do) and picking up a book, then someone else doing it the opposite way round.

 

[AM9]

Can you supply some evidence that the virus can be spread by people looking at books?

Clearly you haven't been listening to (or reading) all the news. The issue is that bookshops where (potential) customers pick books up to browse and then put them back on the shelf have been told to quarantine those books so that they can be set aside until any virus deposits on them has 'died' and become harmless.
The issue here is that Skymonster said

Ooo, I think I'll go into Waterstones once it reopens and surreptitiously try handle a book and put it back again without the staff noticing!

It's not funny so he must be serious.

 

[Pete_uk]

Local bookshops and charity shops are a bit stuffed then if this becomes the normal.

 

[yorksrob]

A book shop is no different to going to a supermarket. People will have handled some of the goods.

Wash hands before and after browsing.

 

[Enthusiast]

I'd put that alongside someone deliberately coughing or breathing on someone. Potentially manslaughter if they died as a result. To the OP - don't.

Per..lease!!!

If that's the case that's me and just about everybody I have seen shopping up before the Beak (and that's without going into how such an "offence" would be proved). When people go shopping they touch things. They pick them up, they look at them, they feel them, they examine them. And if they don't like them they put them back. I should think 50% of the goods I have bought in Tesco's have been "pre-handled" (I don't know if the percentage is accurate, but it's a lot). The same goes for many other shops. We need to get a grip here. Keep your hands clean, don't touch your face whilst you're out and you'll be fine. If you are not confident that you will be then don't go out. To suggest that serious criminal offences will follow if somebody picks up a book or a bunch of bananas but doesn't go on to buy the goods is, I'm sorry to say, symptomatic of the lunacy that seems to have gripped the nation.

 

[philjo]

Our local bookshop will have compulsory use of hand sanitizer On entry to the shop.

tests have found that the virus can remain active on paper and card for up to 3 days after handling. Hence the requirements to quarantine handled stock for 3 days. The same will apply to library books when they can reopen.

 

[Enthusiast]

tests have found that the virus can remain active on paper and card for up to 3 days after handling.

So that's all the stuff in Tesco's that's in a cardboard box or wrapped in paper taken off the shelves for three days then? They must have a lot of staff going round with big trolleys loading up the stuff (though I haven't seen any). And I suppose if it goes beyond its sell-by date during that three days, it's skipped? It could be, of course, that Tesco's has a sense of proportion whilst Waterstone's does not.

 

[nedchester]

Our local bookshop will have compulsory use of hand sanitizer On entry to the shop.

tests have found that the virus can remain active on paper and card for up to 3 days after handling. Hence the requirements to quarantine handled stock for 3 days. The same will apply to library books when they can reopen.

So if you use hand sanitiser on entering the shop then why is it that if you handle the books they have to go into quarantine stock. Utter paranoid madness. It has to stop.