I'm taking this directly from Publishers' Weekly. I hate to just cut & paste like this to my page, but I can't find the story anywhere on the web (at the time of posting). So, this is from Publishers' Weekly's daily newsletter.


Borders' Suggested Retail Price Policy: Priceless


Borders Group wants publishers to stop putting prices on books and
plans to begin working, in cooperation with publishers, toward that
goal next year.

"Bookselling is one of the few retail environments where the price is
fixed by the supplier of the goods and not by the seller," says
spokesperson Anne Roman. "This is not the most advantageous
environment for any of the key parties." Borders maintains that if
prices weren't set by publishers, the retailer would be free to price
books strategically to give consumers more incentive to buy certain
titles--such as offering books by new authors at a lower price.


The debate over printing prices on books flared up earlier this month
when Borders U.K. managing director Philip Downer used his keynote
speech at the Borders management conference in Bournemouth to blast
the practice. "Publishers do not know what their books are worth,"
Downer said. In the U.K., the issue is expected to be a top priority
for a new committee made up of representatives from the Publishers
Association and the Booksellers Association.


In the U.S., it's too soon to say exactly how Borders will go about
pursuing the change, Roman says, adding, "We will move toward working
together on the pricing issue with more of a focus next year, always
in the spirit of partnership with our vendors."--Karen Holt