What brings this up?
Well, for work (and yes, I have now not been paid for a full year) I really needed to pick up a Ning reference book, and it appears that the only game in town for that is the just-released Ning for Dummies. So, I went looking for a copy to eyeball to see if it was what I needed. I found that most of the B&N stores that I had access to "weren't configured" for carrying that, but eventually found one at the second Borders I tried. I flipped through it, and found (as I had surmised from what I'd read on-line) that it really was a bit "light" for what I wanted (I need a good "get under the hood" book), but had enough info well laid out that I figured that I'd get a copy.
However, I could not get myself to pay cover price down at Borders, the book was $24.99 and with tax that would have been $27.49 ... Amazon had it for $16.49 ... that's eleven bucks, folks, on the nose. Of course, free shipping would not kick in until my order got to twentyfive bucks, so I went on a search. I was at first thinking of stacking up some of those Dover Thrift Editions, but found that the paperback of The Woman with the Alabaster Jar was just $9.00 (cover price, not even discounted!), and I'd seen that referred to in some of my other readings, so tossed that in ... order total: $25.49
So, I get the Ning book I need, another book that I've thought of getting before, all for two bucks less than what the Borders purchase would have been ... and I didn't have to shell out any "new money" for it, since I used some Gift Card balance I had sitting around. Win!
Now, don't feel too bad for Borders ... they were having a clearance sale and I was able to pick up the first five Hitchhikers Guide books in (oddly, British) paperback for Daughter #1 at just $2.99 each (they had a cover price of £6.99 each or about $10.50 American, so I ended up getting right about a 70% discount on those), so I did walk out of there with my wallet the better part of a twenty lighter.
I lovvvves me some deals!