Thanks Enrique for drawing the attention to France's effort trying to halt an unstoppable evolution through government intervention.

Indeed, being in a bookshop, browsing through all sorts of books, a large but limited number, getting a feel for a book, even the smell of new books, is one irreplaceable experience that bears some cost; they offer a service which should be rewarded. On the other hand, browsing a nearly unlimited number of items online, from the comfort of one's chair, and purchasing with a single click is convenient. What is unfair is browsing in the real book store, then buying later a pristine copy online.

Rather than imposing a surcharge for shipping imposed on Amazon, it should be possible to find better ways. For example, could there be some encouragement of cooperation, e.g. a bookshop could be an Amazon partner as a shop-front. Amazon customers could for instance designate a local partner book store they use for browsing with some revenue flowing back to that store. So it gets a share, too.

On a larger scale, to me it is all a bit about efficiency in production and distribution of goods. Perhaps you are interested in my thoughts in https://peter-wurmsdobler.medium.com/reducing-resource-expenditure-for-the-procurement-of-household-goods-e9851474d8db