Get used at the bookstore
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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The bookstore is fighting to save you money.
Lawrence Lajoie, manager of the bookstore, has been doing everything in his power to lower the cost of textbooks.
“The biggest priority I was told is that we really need to look to tackle is the cost of textbooks,” Lajoie said.
They are tackling this in a number of ways. Their main goal is to work more closely with faculty members.
In the past it has been left to faculty members to talk to the publishers and choose which books will be used for the classes. Lajoie would like the bookstore to become a resource for the faculty and help choose better options for students.
According to Lajoie, the bookstore would like to educate faculty members about used book options, rather than having them buying the newest version of the book. He has been pushing for use of a single edition for a longer period of time. If faculty members decide to do this, the bookstore can buy used books online to sell at a cheaper price to students.
“For fall term we had $500,000 more in used book inventory than last year,” Lajoie said.
Not only does this lower the base cost of books for students, but it also helps allow them to sell back their old books for a longer period of time.
Lajoie understands that sometimes the books change and need to be switched to a new edition, but they are at least trying to raise the awareness of faculty members.
Lajoie is also trying to get faculty members to stay away from bundles, which are books with additional components such as study guides and software. The publishers make these sound like a good deal, but according to Lajoie it ends up being a very bad deal for students.
The bookstore has convinced some faculty to break up the bundles. While it can cost a little bit more to buy each part individually, it allows students to resell the book and get some money back. In addition, the bookstore can raise the inventory of a used version of the book and reduce initial costs to students.
Sometimes all the components are not actually needed, and the only reason they are there is because the publishers made them sound good.
Lajoie is also trying to raise the number of rental books at the store. The problem with this is the bookstore needs to have a commitment from faculty members to use the book for at least two years.
The good thing about this is that students pay a significantly reduced price for the book by just renting it rather than buying a new or used one.
Lajoie says that e-books, books that are viewable by computer, can be a good idea, because they costs about half of a new book. This would mean, however, that students would not be able to sell back the book.
The usual book buy back policy is to pay about half the cost it was sold for. So, if a student can stand reading textbooks on a computer, they can save themselves the hassle of selling the books back and get the savings upfront.
As for the buy back, Lajoie says they try to purchase as many books as they can from students
All and all, he does not want to stop students from getting a quality education, he says, but he wants to spend a little more time to research if the new editions or bundles are the right idea.
“Whenever I see new books on the shelf, I’m constantly asking my textbook buyer why. Can we do something to save the students from having to spend $200, $300, $400?” Lajoie said.
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