A French court ruled that Amazon’s free shipping policy violates a law that forbids booksellers from discounting more than 5% off list price. Rather than stopping the practice, Amazon has upped the ante, continuing the policy in the face of a €1,000 per day fine, and soliciting customers to sign a petition in favor of free shipping.
What’s stranger? That a court is ordering a company to charge customers for shipping? Or that the French legal system calculates prices in a more holistic way, taking into account shipping charges, than many businesses who you’d think would be keeping a close eye on these things?