Green Apple Takes a Page from the Amazon Playbook

Green Apple Takes a Page from the Amazon Playbook

Green Apple Takes a Page from the Amazon Playbook

We're ready to sign up the Green Apple Books guys to do our April Fools issue. Yesterday the San Francisco store issued this announcement:

In a move spurred by Amazon.com's campaign to collect 500,000-plus signatures in an effort to overturn California's Sales Tax Fairness law via referendum, Green Apple Books owners Pete Mulvihill, Kevin Ryan, and Kevin Hunsanger have decided that they, too, will take a step toward not collecting sales tax. "We, too, are fed up with government providing infrastructure, security, and education," says Pete Mulvihill. "Enough is enough."

Co-owner Kevin Ryan further argues that while Green Apple Books is a long-established presence in San Francisco that has always collected sales tax, there are more compelling reasons for the store to discontinue the practice. "Sure, the sales tax on books purchased at our store contributes to a better quality of life for all Californians, including social services for the elderly and disabled, but collecting sales tax kind of feels like overkill. We do enough for the community anyway," says Ryan.

"I like Amazon's angle here, and I think ALL indie stores should be exempt," adds co-owner Kevin Hunsanger.

Additionally, Green Apple's ownership provides this list of talking points:

* More than two-thirds of Green Apple's staff do not have children and therefore should not really contribute tax money to public education.
* Most of the staff members do not own cars, so maintaining good roads isn't that important. They could just walk.
* Statistics suggest that booksellers are 36% less likely to use emergency services than antiques dealers.
* Although many of the staff at Green Apple do in fact enjoy state and local parks, they sort of think someone other than the bookstore's customers should pay to maintain them.

On Saturday, August 20, 2011, co-owner Kevin Ryan will hit the streets in an effort to collect enough signatures to put this issue into the hands of voters.