What is reasonable?

Justice has to be reasonable. Any decision which is based on no reason or taken in a whim or fancy is unjust. Similarly if the reasons have nothing to do with the decision, it is arbitrary and perverse. It is also nicknamed as Wednesbury’s Arbitrariness, due to the decision of House of Lords on the subject. (click here to read more about Wednesbury’s Arbitrariness)

Similarly if the reasons for a decision are based on wrong facts or reasons change in the course of time, the decision has to be revisited and a fresh decision need to be taken. That is sum and substance of reasonableness. Rest is in the domain of mental wilderness.

Is amazon reasonable?

In the past whenever I have revised a book, I have requested Amazon to forward the intimation to every buyer so that they may update the content. The request was always granted. This time I did the same for one of my books. However to my surprise this was the response:

Hello,
I’m following up with you regarding your request on updating the customer about your Kindle book “Law of Limitation in India”

We’ve reviewed the changes to your book, and we consider the content updates to be  MINOR quality corrections.

We won’t notify customers of the updates, but they can now update the content on their “Manage Your Content and Devices” page (www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/manage).

Customers who download eBooks through Kindle Unlimited will receive the updated content as long as they haven’t returned the Kindle Unlimited borrow before the content update is initiated.

At this time, customers who download eBooks through Kindle Owners’ Lending Library don’t receive updated content. Our technical team is working on improving this process.
Thanks for using Amazon KDP.

My rejoinder to above reply:

Hi,
It appears you missed trees for the woods. You simply compared last two
versions and decided that changes are minor.

Kindly compare the changes between original version uploaded on 1st April
2012 and the present version. Not only the pages have increased but the
book has been completely revised and name has also been changed.
If you do not have original contents used the attached PDF file.

Hope you take time to do the needful.

Here comes another reply:

Hi,

I hope you are doing well!!

I understand your concern with regard to sending the updated to the customers who have already bought your book, “Law of Limitation in India” ASIN: B007QL8F8A.
In this case, please note, though we do not send the notification emails to all the customers, you’d be relieved and glad to know that the customers can still download the updated version of the book through their “Manage Your Content and Devices” page (www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/manage).
I hope this information helps but do feel free to write back to us in case of any further concerns, we would be glad to assist you.
Thanks for contacting Amazon KDP and your valued association with us!! Have a good day ahead!!

In this last communication, there is no reply as to how they concluded that the changes were minor. Nor they bothered to address the reasoning given by me. Is this reasonable or arbitrary?

Answer is apparent. What I have hit is called the true face of authority be it a capitalism or any other “ism”. Monopolistic  competition in reality leave very poor choices for a customer. Often the choice is take it or leave it. So be it.