Ah, Jeff! Why the hell did you shut down Book Depository?

THAT’S it, for me, Baldy.

I know this is not a nice thing to call anyone and I’m sorry; but when I heard the news, I couldn’t believe it. No way. Not even Jeff Bezos would do that, I said. Not even him.

But, yes, the Book Depository is to cease operations on April 26

I’m devastated, but not all that surprised that the massive multinational of which you are the billionaire founder and executive chairman is pulling the shutters down on an outstandingly successful and beloved global online bookstore. The best online bookshop in the world.

You know, you can get more or less anything on BD.

There’s no messing around when it comes to delivery; it can be a bit slow at times, but the shipping is free.

And customer service? You can’t beat it. On the single occasion in all the years I used BD, and out of all the times I ordered books from it, one delivery didn’t turn up. Problem? No problem. A free replacement was dispatched ASAP.

This, my man, is a solid gold five-star operation.

And now this business ideal, this example of retail perfection, which was originally founded nearly 20 years ago by Andrew Crawford, a former employee of Amazon, and his business partner Stuart Felton, is getting the bullet.

BD was bought out by Amazon in 2011. And now Amazon is shutting it down.

Because? Because? Well, from what I can see, no specific reason for this decision about BD has been given officially. It’s just understood that the closure is related to Amazon’s recent move to generally downsize and effect ‘role elimination’. God, what a phrase.

In other words, Amazon wants to cut thousands of jobs and it’s killing a fabulous book company as part of the massacre.

Book Depository is massively popular not because of its enormous selection of bestsellers and popular titles, but also because it offers more niche and hard-to-find books that aren’t necessarily available in traditional bookstores.

On top of that, the free shipping worldwide makes books available to customers who do not have access to certain books in their local area or who cannot afford high shipping costs.

The global online book retailer has offices in London, Gloucester, Madrid, Cape Town and Chennai as well as big centres in the UK and Australia.

Mourning the looming closure, one Argentinian reader reported that the BD was the only way to buy books in English using their national currency. Buying in dollars cost - listen to this - about 75% extra in taxes.

Of course, we still have alternatives. Here in Ireland, for example, we have the superb Kennys.ie online bookshop based in Galway. They’re very, very good, with free delivery to destinations within Ireland. And we have the Eason Ireland online bookstore with free delivery on orders over €10 www.easons.com. There’s The Wordery website, very good too, with free worldwide delivery, www.wordery.com. And then there’s Wob, formerly World of Books, one of the largest online sellers of second-hands books in the world with free delivery, to, yes, Ireland.

And don’t forget that the Irish public library service provides all users with a wide range of free online services from ebooks to eAudiobooks, emagazines, online newspapers at librariesireland.ie/elibrary.

You can download ebooks, magazines and more onto your phone and tablet. So we’re not about to tumble into a literary abyss. But it’s still beyond depressing.

BD must have millions of happy customers all over the world. BD is a global business success. And yet, Jeff, you’re shutting it down?

Change your mind, Jeff. Remember that as of this month, your net worth is €127 billion.

You can afford to reverse the planned closure of Book Depository. Redeem yourself in the eyes of readers everywhere; in the eyes of BD customers all over the world. Think again. Think about the fact that you’re about to burn an iconic global book company. Don’t do it.

Please don’t do it.

But if you do it, just go and KMRIA, Jeff Bezos, I’ll hate you forever.