Dynamic Pricing Glitch on:

At this point, neither of my kids are showing the kind of interest in Biblical Studies that would allow them to get the same use out of my 9K+ library that I am getting, but hopefully that will change as they get older. Still, I intend to leave them my Library and so I would not take advantage of Academic pricing even if I had a chance to do so. 

Let's understand something...Academic pricing is not some great deal--it's a pity party for sad sacks who are supposedly incapable of buying needed resources. I'm not totally sure why it's offered (probably under the auspices of an "education is valuable, let's honor the effort" concept). I probably make less money than any participating student who isn't a non-working teen, and I work in education (as a substitute teacher), but I still pay full price for what I get (well, full price minus whatever sale or bundle discounts I can take advantage of). My point is, I don't understand why anyone thinks that they are owed anything where academic discounts are concerned. In typical "Christian" parlance, the whole program is a gift of pure grace...wholly undeserved. It is also, in a sense, a selfish play, since there is no inheritance factor involved in the "investment". Only the initial recipient benefits (apart from some trickle-down spiritnomics--i.e. the recipient may share what he/she has learned with his/her seed). AD resources are not transferable, so they are sort of like a term life insurance policy, having limited viability and utility. Considering the undeserved nature of the program, expecting Logos to pile sale pricing on top of academic discounts is pretty much like biting the hand that feeds. Not cool.

Now, that said, I think that there is some element of what is inelegantly known as "Indian giving" in Logos giving something away and then effectively charging for it later. I think this is especially crass when part of the idea of giving away the "free" resource (I don't see how the quote marks can be left off here) is to introduce the customer to something that is part of a larger collection which Logos is hoping the customer will develop a taste for upon feasting on the gratis sampling. Take the two Brueggemann offerings in the "One Free/Two for 99c" promotion. If someone just takes these and never buys another Brueggemann resource, they've made out pretty swell. If on the other hand, customers decide they like the resources enough to want more and choose to get the Brueggeman Collection, they completely lose the benefit of what they got for free. In this case, the better (paying) Logos customer gets nada and the freeloader keeps his nifty deal. Not cool.

Still, I don't think it's fair to suggest that Logos doesn't honor dynamic pricing. They obviously do, and I have benefited from it often, as has Logos, since I can say with certainty that I would not have purchased tons of stuff I now own otherwise (lack of DP is why I didn't buy the 2010 & 2011 Master Collections even though I wanted them very much). Saying that Logos is guilty of blanket error or worse, when they really just need to tweak a procedure here or there isn't right. Yes, that's right...not cool.

Donnie, I admit that I painted with a broader brush than I could have otherwise used, but I honestly can't recall anyone who is on AD who hasn't carped about Logos not allowing them to stack discount on top of discount in addition to the massive discount they already are getting. I suppose that assuming the few gripers represent the whole is a sort of argument from silence in reverse, but it also comes across as being rather like ingratitude. Still, I also admit my attempt to condense the matter into a brief representative illustration was lacking in art and was more acerbic than it should have been. I don't have a problem with folks taking advantage of the AD program. I do feel that it is inappropriate for those who take advantage of the program to demand to ability to double and triple dip their discounts. If folks do the math and they are better served forsaking AD and applying normal sale discounts, they should be able to buy outside the AD structure to acquire those price and transfer benefits. But holding Logos's feet to the fire when Logos is extending a tremendous amount of grace is anything from inappropriate to just plain ugly. To anyone who isn't doing or hasn't done that, I apologize for giving the impression of lumping you in with those who have. But as I tell classes all the time, if what I'm saying doesn't apply to you, then it doesn't apply to you.

If Logos chooses to offer DP to AD, that's great for those who can take advantage. But if they don't offer it, that's their call. I don't have a problem with folks criticizing Logos, but the criticism should be fair. There is a difference between what we want as customers and what we can demand. I think the only thing we can rightly demand from Logos is paid-for functionality. Everything else is a negotiation, and sometimes we will get what we want and sometimes we won't. It's fine for us to be disappointed and make our case, but accusing Logos of wrong-doing is out of line.

Well, my kids are not yet as old as I was when YHWH reached into my world and jerked a knot in my chain at 23. They do have the benefit of being much more conceptually up to speed than I was back then. My daughter chose to be baptized about a year ago, and she chooses to participate in weekly services and service projects. My son is much more reserved, but he is kind of like the tortoise...a slow and steady type. I'm optimistic where they are concerned. I don't expect them to be as focused as I am, at least not for another few years.

Denise said:

Oh, and did I mention, I'm 98% Libronix?  Yes, 98% package-free Libronix complete with licenses.   Just how many Logosians have those stats??

You definitely beat me in that department. I have acquired a number of L5-only resources, and the one I'm reading now (as I've discussed in another thread) has forced me to dip my toes into the L5 universe. I've finally started to make use of Clippings. It seems helpful and I'm happy to make use of it. I still download every available L3 file I can when I purchase older titles, though.