I recently completed a purchase at Barnes & Noble, in which I finally purchased my brother his christmas present. Say what you will about the irony in using the gift card I got from him to purchase his present – but I also threw in some surprises for myself (this is precisely why I’m not a huge fan of christmas…)

I was given my shipping information within a few hours; my order consisted of the following 3 pieces: Mitch Hedberg (the present), which is coming from Edison, New Jersey:

and a few books by Bertrand de Jouvenel for myself, Economics and the Good Life, which is coming from Memphis, Tennessee:

and Ethics of Redistribution, which is yet to ship.

Despite the fact that all three pieces are shipping separately, I imagine I’ll have them all within 7-10 days, and they still qualified collectively for free shipping. So I ask you, wishful Central Planners: could you do better, for less?

And if so, why aren’t you?