Amazon “hacks” the law which imposes a minimum of 3 euros in shipping costs on book shipments

The online sales giant announces that ordered books can be delivered free of charge to collection points located in certain supermarkets. A misuse of the Darcos law?

Tfind a flaw in a system to possibly hijack it: in the IT field, we call this a “hack”. This is exactly what Amazon has just done, announcing this Tuesday, November 5 that “for their book orders, [ses] Customers can now choose free delivery in a vast network of more than 2,500 collection points throughout France.. However, since a law passed by Senator Laure Darcos, which came into force in October 2023, shipping costs for books must be at least 3 euros for any order less than 35 euros. Except that Amazon discovered a flaw in an imperfect text, but which had the merit of trying to rebalance the game between bookstores and the online sales giant having the means not to charge for shipping.

According to this law, “the book delivery service cannot under any circumstances, whether directly or indirectly, be offered by the retailer free of charge, unless the book is collected from a book retail store”. Amazon believes that this last clarification allows its customers to benefit from free collection from “lockers” (automatic lockers) or counters located in supermarkets… which also sell books. The American company may well argue that “70% of these collection points are located in rural areas or small towns”, we quickly realize that the list includes a Monoprix in Dijon or a Carrefour in Orléans located in the city center… just a stone's throw from an independent bookstore. In short, this is what we call a nice hoax.

The public opinion map

This announcement is also part of a broader crusade by Amazon against the Darcos law, which would “contrary to the rights and interests of consumers”. Amazon also brought the matter before the Council of State – in May, it decided to in turn request the opinion of the Court of Justice of the European Union. In the meantime, the company is also playing the public opinion card, by regularly commissioning surveys on the issue from Ifop. The latest survey, published conveniently at the time of the first anniversary of the law, showed that 62% of those questioned believed that the implementation of these shipping costs of at least 3 euros affected their purchasing power (no joke?).

This Tuesday, in the Senate, after Laure Darcos accused Amazon of “circumvent the law quite blatantly”, the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, announced the referral to the Book Mediator (authority responsible for “conciliation of disputes relating to the application of legislation relating to book prices”), “because there is a question of interpretation”. He has a period of four months after receipt of the referral to “attempt to reconcile the parties”. In the event of failure, it may turn to the competent jurisdiction or the Competition Authority – the French Bookstore Union (SLF) also says “reserve the right to take the matter to court”. Enough to give Amazon time to send a good package of books to its lockers without shipping costs.