2008 Woodie Awards
Reader reminds book buyers of alternatives
Letter to the Editor
Ashley Vaughn
Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: Editorial
- Page 1 of 2 next >
I must commend The Echo for its recent publishing of alternative opinions in the editorials.
These articles have not only been a refreshing change from past editions, but have also demonstrated an attempt to more accurately depict a variety of campus opinions.
As a student myself, I also commend the writers for encouraging students to find alternative methods of trading and purchasing their textbooks. But as an employee of Chattanooga Books, I feel the need to correct a few misconceptions about our, along with the UTC bookstore's "monopoly" on textbooks.
To begin with, we are not a monopoly, nor are we a "virtual" monopoly. Merely the presence of two textbook stores on campus, a variety of successful used textbook Web sites, and student-initiated trade programs serve to greatly offset our potential profits.
A monopoly is defined as explicit control of the market by a particular group. I have just mentioned many viable contenders in our market here at UTC.
Now to look at that time of year with which students entertain a love-hate relationship: buyback time. Students eagerly look forward to the semester's end when they can be rid of those heavy textbooks, yet they fear the moment when they learn how much of their original $500 spent on textbooks they will recoup.
An editorial in last week's Echo claimed that despite the bookstores' ads that you receive "Up to 50 percent back" on textbooks, you never really get 50 percent of your money back. If you're really lucky, you may even only receive $1.
There seems to be the widespread misconception that these buyback prices are set arbitrarily according to the whim of the evil bookstores.
In reality, the bookstores themselves have little to do with the original price or buyback price. We actually receive a very small margin of that $130 you paid for a biology book.
The buyback price is then set by any number of factors: the time of year, month, week or even day a student sells their books, whether the professor will continue using the book and if they have informed the bookstores of that decision, if a new edition has been published, and if it's a fall-or-spring course only.
These articles have not only been a refreshing change from past editions, but have also demonstrated an attempt to more accurately depict a variety of campus opinions.
As a student myself, I also commend the writers for encouraging students to find alternative methods of trading and purchasing their textbooks. But as an employee of Chattanooga Books, I feel the need to correct a few misconceptions about our, along with the UTC bookstore's "monopoly" on textbooks.
To begin with, we are not a monopoly, nor are we a "virtual" monopoly. Merely the presence of two textbook stores on campus, a variety of successful used textbook Web sites, and student-initiated trade programs serve to greatly offset our potential profits.
A monopoly is defined as explicit control of the market by a particular group. I have just mentioned many viable contenders in our market here at UTC.
Now to look at that time of year with which students entertain a love-hate relationship: buyback time. Students eagerly look forward to the semester's end when they can be rid of those heavy textbooks, yet they fear the moment when they learn how much of their original $500 spent on textbooks they will recoup.
An editorial in last week's Echo claimed that despite the bookstores' ads that you receive "Up to 50 percent back" on textbooks, you never really get 50 percent of your money back. If you're really lucky, you may even only receive $1.
There seems to be the widespread misconception that these buyback prices are set arbitrarily according to the whim of the evil bookstores.
In reality, the bookstores themselves have little to do with the original price or buyback price. We actually receive a very small margin of that $130 you paid for a biology book.
The buyback price is then set by any number of factors: the time of year, month, week or even day a student sells their books, whether the professor will continue using the book and if they have informed the bookstores of that decision, if a new edition has been published, and if it's a fall-or-spring course only.
