You may want to consider the following before joining one of the many children's book clubs available to you, the consumer.
Benefits:
- creates a growing home library
- can stay at home when it's cold/hot outside
- convenient shopping from your own home
- keeps kids interested by surrounding them with books
- best for particular reading needs - eg. children,
genres, hobbies
- excellent selection of books for your kids
- selections are usually age and interest appropriate
- choice of more books than local library/book shop
- offers books no longer available in stores
- rewards/bonus points for purchases
- discounts and free books for regular customers
- great sign up offers
- delivered to your front door
- simple to join
- monthly newsletter - often with related news, events, etc
- helpful book reviews
- offers to other discount services
- save money
- great for isolated communities
- easy for sending as gifts
- you'll actually receive mail
- promotional bags/toys/clothes/watches, etc, not
available elsewhere
- some may order in specific or hard to locate books
- many offer online ordering and other services
- most benefit to avid readers
Drawbacks:
- sometimes costly
- possibility of bad service or other service difficulties
- offers sometimes deceptive or unclear
- postal and shipping costs may equal discount
- return postage expensive (avoid this*)
- forgetting to return monthly order cards
- stuck with books you'll never read if you don't
notify them in time
- "sorry, out of stock, we will back order it for you"
- code number ordering - mistakes are common
- risk of theft leaving packages at the door
- relying on possible slow and unreliable mail or
delivery services
- some clubs have book club editions only
(less appeal, different colours, smaller)
- easy to overspend
- crossposting problems
- ending up on other mailing lists (avoid this*)
- clogging up your letter box
- some offer sample only lists, instead of entire
choice of stock
- can't always find exactly what you're after
- time wasted waiting on phone for customer service
When you come right down to it, the choice remains an individual one. How it will benefit your family, needs to be your priority when selecting a club. Find a club to suit the needs of your family and refuse to be persuaded by offers which seem too good to be true. Children's book clubs offer some of the best and most competitive deals. Search opinion sites (Epinions, Ciao, xxxx) for customer points of view before joining a book club. It may save you time and money in the long run.
