Taking the price revision example, there are a lot of good reasons for publishers to change a price on a title just before it's published, Givler said. The chain claims it's the wrong price. Willow Creek has received chargebacks that she felt weren't fair, but was able to work them out. John Pisanello, Borders' director of transportation did not return calls from ForeWord, but sources from national book distribution firms said they were sympathetic with Borders. Chain booksellers have to pay labor costs to repair mistakes, so what they really are looking for is compliance, not money.
Fines are just a way of underscoring the seriousness of the situation.
If you looked at other industries, they've been doing it and have been doing it for a long time. Wal-Mart does this every day. This is normal for other industries. They've told the book industry, you're getting lousy compliance because you don't penalize them. Often companies use these as profit centers.