Among the long lines, high prices and confusing return policies in many bookstores, students may not stop to think about the reason behind the price of a textbook - and the seemingly disproportionate buyback price.
According to owners and managers of local bookstores, they are not to blame.
Jonathan Welch, owner of Talking Leaves Books, is quick to correct any misconceptions about who gets the $110 you just spent on your Physics 101 textbook.
"There's a myth among students that college bookstores that sell textbooks are ripping them off," he said. "There's this notion that the bookstores are very rich, whereas the profit margin for textbooks is really very small."
Despite popular belief, some students have found that they get a reasonable amount back for their textbooks.
"I always thought I've received a good amount of money for my textbooks. I guess I'm just lucky, because I hear everybody else complain. I just don't understand what the deal is with the 'new edition' stuff," said junior Joe LaTorre, a business major.
If not the bookstore, though, what determines the price of a textbook and why do chemistry majors have an emptier wallet than English majors?
"Price is generally set by the publishers. Hard science textbooks are more expensive," said Bill Adamczyk, textbook manager of the University Bookstore. "It's the amount of work and research that goes into it. Plus printing costs for color pictures and graphs drive the prices up."
Eric Gelsinger, a Talking Leaves employee, agreed.
"The business of publishing science textbooks is very costly. In a textbook, the editors are experts in their fields, and they need to get paid. Printing, color printing, costs a lot," Gelsinger said. "And distribution and promotion makes up a lot of the cost."
Buy-back prices, according to Welch, also are not to blame on individual stores. He compared the selling of textbooks back to selling a car.
"If you sell a car a year after you buy it, you'll get less than half the price," said Welch. "There are so many different reasons for the prices of used books - new editions, if the book is (chosen by another professor) . The cost of buying back textbooks is sort of a mystery."
Adamczyk said the prices the bookstores are able to pay back to students are not determined by the bookstore.
"Used book wholesalers send databases to stores that buy back books. The prices are based on supply and demand, if the professor's going to use the same book next semester, if there's a new edition out," he said.
According to University Bookstore Director Greg Neuman, books that are going to be used during another semester will be bought back and resold. If a book is not being used again, the store will buy it at the database rate and send it back to the wholesaler.
The database rate can range anywhere from half price to less than a dollar for certain books, according to Adamczyk. These low prices deter some students from selling books back at all.
"I don't understand why some books can't be bought back. I once took a math class where the textbook was brand new. At the end of the semester, they told me that there was a new edition coming out. I don't get it," said junior media studies major Craig Moskowitz. "Do the basic rules of calculus change so often that there needs to be a new textbook every few months?"
According to Neuman, new editions are printed so frequently because of the competitive nature of the textbook industry. He said that new editions used to be printed only every seven or eight years.
One reason behind the competition is that publishers do not make any money off of buybacks and as a result race to publish new editions, complete with CD-ROM study guides. When this happens, professors buy the new edition, and the publisher makes a profit, while the old editions are pulled off the shelves.
When new editions hit the shelves and students are forced to buy new books because used ones are not available, some question the necessity of purchasing the books at all.
"I have found that in a lot of my big lecture classes for core courses, that the textbook is not that necessary because there's nothing that you would learn from in the book that can't be learned in the lectures," said LaTorre. "It's merely used to reinforce the lecture material. But in smaller, more discussion-based classes, the textbooks are necessary."
While students may think that some texts are unnecessary and will likely clean out their bank accounts buying them, Welch said that the books are still a good bargain.
"There are a lot of books that are overpriced, but people automatically think that books should be inexpensive. If you're going to take school seriously, then you get a good value for what you invest," he said. "Prices of records, concert tickets - even food - all went up in past years, but people complain about textbooks. Some people see the price and tend to blame the bookstore, whereas the bookstore doesn't make much money off the textbooks."
While some stores may participate in price gouging, Welch said, comparing prices in local stores should show that most books are priced similarly.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
