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Head-to-Head: Working to lower book prices

Bookstore works to keep prices as low as possible

By Lauren Sandberg
IVCC Bookstore Manager

    I would like to commend Matt Simko for his article on the complex issue of textbook pricing. He discusses three issues close to the heart of every IVCC student: pricing, used books and bundles.
    The Government Accountability Office did a study this year and found that “the increasing costs publishers incur to develop supplements (such as CD-ROMs, websites and other instructional materials) best explain price increases in recent years.” The publisher sets a price for the textbook and the Bookstore adds a 21 percent margin to that cost. According to Matt’s article, the average gross margin among campus bookstores has been steady at 22.4 percent since 1998. I also poll other Illinois community colleges periodically and find that their gross margins range from 20 to 25 percent.
    It costs you less to buy all the pieces together in a bundle than if you were to buy them separately. The discount works against you at buyback. If the bundle contains a ‘consumable’ – a book you’ll write in so it won’t be of use to the next student – or a pin code – which is void once a student uses it, then those items have to be replaced with new items in a used bundle. In a number of instances it has proven cheaper for students to purchase a new bundle than a combination of used and new components. Publishers and textbook authors don’t like used books. They don’t think it’s fair to have their product resold multiple times while they are only paid once. Therefore, they find ways to make used products more expensive – and less attractive.
    During buyback, the Bookstore pays 50 percent of the new price if the book is going to be used during the next semester. The used book company that does the buyback purchases any other books. We can’t buy back all books because we have no place to store hundreds of books that won’t be used each semester, we could buy books that will have no value six months later due to edition changes and after purchasing a book, the instructor may decide to change.
    The IVCC Bookstore serves students by trying to make as many used books available as possible, working with instructors to expand our buyback list, working with the Deans to make sure that our concerns for the welfare of students are front and center and keeping our margins low.
    Be assured we will always be looking for more.
 

Head to Head: Instructors should use required textbooks

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