There are times when it becomes apparent that people just don’t get it, simply are not in step with the realities of the Brave New World we live in. A little example of it crossed my desk this afternoon.
For a customer in Russia I have to buy a series of technical standards. It’s a favour not a business really. So I’m pottering about, buying FED-STD this and SAE J that and then I go to the Beuth Verlag site to buy a DIN standard. (If you really want to know, “Determination of interstitial oxygen content of silicon intended for use in semiconductor technology by infrared absorption spectroscopy, translation, English”. Fascinating bedtime reading.) I find the correct thing, arm the credit card and…..no, I can’t pay online. Please fax card details through.
OK, not too much of a problem but you would think they would have that sort of thing sorted out by now, after all, these guys are the pros, the centre for all the technical standards of that famed German engineering. Then up pops a little thing, would I like to download the file as a .pdf rather than wait for the paper version? Sure. Then, this:

# Registering for the downloading service is free, although you must pay for the documents you order. Since creating a new PDF file for each standard involves extra costs to us, we have introduced the following surcharges:
# For downloading only, 10% of the net price
# For downloading and receiving the printed version, 20% of the net price

Huh? Y’what? Downloading a .pdf file costs more than the dead tree version?
No, no, no guys. That’s not the way it works. Digital publishing reduces your costs so it should reduce the costs to me. Looking around a little further to see if I can spot why this absurdity I note the following:

* Once you have registered, a special box for choosing the downloading option will appear next to your search results.
* For each order, you can choose whether to download the documents or have printed copies sent to you.
* Select an item for downloading by clicking on the special box.
* Check your ordering information and then click “order” to complete your order.
* About 15 minutes after you have sent off your order, we will send you an e-mail confirming that the documents are ready for downloading.
* We also confirm your downloading order by including it in the personalized information that appears whenever you access the myBeuth homepage.
* The documents are made available for downloading for a period of 7 days.

Errr…….you mean that when I electronically order an electronic document there is a bureaucrat hand uploading the files for each specific order? Gretel actually gets employed to read the digital order and then match up the digital file? Are you absolutely certain that this could not have been automated? Really?
So, there we have it. The German Institute responsible for Standards cannot implement a credit card payment system at its online shop, and it is still hand processing digital orders for digital documents. And charges a premium over dead tree versions.
Is it any wonder that the entire country is deep in the doggy doo doo economically?