Spring Break
Balancing the [text]books
Melissa Oribhabor
Issue date: 11/2/09 Section: News
Every semester, it's the same misery and shock. You take a stack of required books for the semester to the bookstore register and watch in agony as the sales associate rings them up one-by-one.
Because of the high cost, some students go elsewhere to buy textbooks for school.
"[I buy my books at] half.com because I [get] a better deal," sophomore Cenk Karasapan said. "I saved about 60 percent and, instead of paying $300, I pay $120 dollars."
Although some students are displeased with the prices of books at the bookstore, Pete Eisentrager, assistant director of UMKC Bookstores, said things are not as bad as they seem.
"[The bookstore] is extremely competitive with Amazon.com and Half.com," he said. "Eighty to 85 percent of our books are within $5 of the online [retailers]. There's not that much of a discrepancy as the common myth would lead people to believe."
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the average college textbook markup is 30 percent, but the UMKC bookstore only has a 25 percent markup on books.
The bookstore orders used books from wholesalers and purchases new books from the publishers, which tend to be more pricy.
"We try to avoid buying from publishers when we can," Eisentrager said. "They control the pricing."
But when the bookstore does have to buy the more expensive books from the publisher, and then add the extra 25 percent onto the cover price, it really starts to add up for students.
But why mark up the books at all? Management for the bookstore said the profit made from the markups goes to running the business.
That is, paying the employees, paying utilities and all other things that go into running a business. The extra money goes to the university to pay for student groups and other activities.
"Even used books are expensive," Karasapan said. "Over the course of several semesters, I spend thousands [of dollars] on books. You have to look at the big picture."
Because of the high cost, some students go elsewhere to buy textbooks for school.
"[I buy my books at] half.com because I [get] a better deal," sophomore Cenk Karasapan said. "I saved about 60 percent and, instead of paying $300, I pay $120 dollars."
Although some students are displeased with the prices of books at the bookstore, Pete Eisentrager, assistant director of UMKC Bookstores, said things are not as bad as they seem.
"[The bookstore] is extremely competitive with Amazon.com and Half.com," he said. "Eighty to 85 percent of our books are within $5 of the online [retailers]. There's not that much of a discrepancy as the common myth would lead people to believe."
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the average college textbook markup is 30 percent, but the UMKC bookstore only has a 25 percent markup on books.
The bookstore orders used books from wholesalers and purchases new books from the publishers, which tend to be more pricy.
"We try to avoid buying from publishers when we can," Eisentrager said. "They control the pricing."
But when the bookstore does have to buy the more expensive books from the publisher, and then add the extra 25 percent onto the cover price, it really starts to add up for students.
But why mark up the books at all? Management for the bookstore said the profit made from the markups goes to running the business.
That is, paying the employees, paying utilities and all other things that go into running a business. The extra money goes to the university to pay for student groups and other activities.
"Even used books are expensive," Karasapan said. "Over the course of several semesters, I spend thousands [of dollars] on books. You have to look at the big picture."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Michelle
posted 11/04/09 @ 7:15 PM CST
http://Booklookr.com is where I go to save cash on my books, it's a price comparison site but it's saved me about 200 so far
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