The last two days in Textbook Land (once again, super long)

[AdminAssistant]

For my class (the one I teach), we're only requiring the students to buy one book - a giant anthology of plays that the bookstores are selling for around $70. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me - but that's the way it is. And, as I was going over this the first class, I could see the hamster wheels turning and said, "And, you have to buy THIS book, because about half the plays we're reading are in translation, and you all have to be reading the same translation."

And they still have not got the GTA's our copies yet!!! They being the publisher, not the bookstores (GTAs don't have to pay for the books they teach out of).

[Can I have a cheeseburger]

Pulling up an old thread...

I know at my university, the book store does not add very much onto the price of books. Their margins are only around 4%, although some big sellers like one of Obama's books was closer to 20%.

Most of the money goes straight to the publishers, and yes they are very greedy.

[Geek King]

Seriously, why are books so damn expensive?

I can sort-of answer this. While the publishers do tend to tack on a nice profit, the base cost is still higher than you would think due to low print counts. Prices for printing are mainly on the things you do for press setup, printing plates, the time it takes the crew to set up the machine, Seting up the binding machines, and the layout guys to put together what goes on the printing plates so everything prints in order. Actually running the printing press is relatively cheap, so long runs = more books = more product to spread the startup costs around. Textbooks tend to have very short runs, so you eat more of the setup costs on individual books. In fact, where I worked, prices were based on number of pages in the layout, with (in comparison) slight differences for the number of copies. It also costs extra the more the layout people have to do for the client.

And now you know!
And knowing is half the battle!
What's the other half?
Sheer bloody violence, Billy.

[Chromatix]

In which case, why the frack do they seem to release a new edition every year or two?

[KiaKat]

Because of updated information.

[lupo pazzesco]

In which case, why the frack do they seem to release a new edition every year or two?

Because of updated information.

In part, yes, KiaKat, but also realize publishers don't make money when stores sell used books. Therefore, they have to put out new editions of a product that has limited uses if they want to keep profit margins up.

I have literally gone through an old edition book vs. new edition (genetics book, mind you). As far as I could tell, the pages were rearranged some, a couple sample problems were different, and the book had a new cover. And they were able to charge a $40 price difference.

I can understand updating for information, but more often than not, in my experience, books are updated, just to update them. But that's just my two cents.

[KiaKat]

Interesting.

I was a physics major in college. Ended up switching schools, where I offered tutoring for a class I had taken the year before at the other school. New edition (and more studying by me) was required, however, because it was an astrophysics course with a focus on dark matter and other theoretical interactions, and information had been discovered in the last year.

My sister is a second year med student, and says that a good number of her pharmeceutical and genetics books are out of date within a year of publication. Her library is approaching the size of mine, and she's *not* a reader.

But, I can think of a couple psych books and environmental science books that we were allowed to use one of three editions, because the info was all the same.

Hmm. *ponders*

[MTNLaurelPoacher]

Sc: "I'll have your job!"
Employee: *hands Sc a job application* "Best of luck bud, don't put me down as a reference."

Is it bad when your book store has to have a police officer?

[technical.angel]

You know, all these stories are making me really glad that we outsource our book store.

The students go to a website and order their books, and they get shipped to them. If it was on campus, I'm sure they'd find a way to get us involved.

[Alpha Strike]

I’ll have your job!
...
I gave him the number, and watched him leave. The poor newbie cashier is looking at me like I had just kicked a puppy and said he was surprised I did that. I shrugged, then went and found MOD K, and our DM, B, who was visiting the store. I explained what happened, apologized for being snappy, and said I’d accept the write up if there was one, because I knew I was over the line with what I said.

I don't see anything wrong here. Unless you were overly sarcastic or snide with him, all you did was be make some reasonable requests of him. Nothing to apologize or be written up for.

I’ll have your job, part deux!!
Customer wants to special order a book. I ring it up but the price on my screen is different than the price on his order slip, so I ask him to wait and I’ll go check on it. Turns out there was a glitch and the used price was written down for a book that only comes new, as in, it comes shrink wrapped new every semester. I go back and apologize and tell him it is at the new price. Cue the suck.

I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for this guy. It would be different if he had been given a written quote, seen something on line, or had checked with multiple CS staff and been told X price was the final price.

As far as I can tell here though, all he saw was the price on a cash register, which I NEVER assume is final until I'm given my total. You told him you were going to check on it and came back quickly to correct the error. Yeah, it's annoying but shit happens - a tiny error that was quickly caught and his 1 minute of inconvenience isn't worth a 20% discount. ESPECIALLY when he turns into a flaming douchebag.

SC: I want to speak to your manager! You’re beyond rude! I’ll have your job!
Me: You want my job? Take it! You wouldn’t last a day! (I go and find MOD K, who talks to the guy. He does tell him tough shit on the price/discount thing, but I did get a verbal reprimand for the way I responded. No write up though, thank gods!)

Nice! I understand why your manager gave the reprimand but I'd give odds that he was thinking the same thing the whole time.

(And Good luck with your screening - hope it comes up Negative!)

[taxguykarl]

And in most of the classes, you don't even need the books to begin with!

I've lost track of how many books I've bought for an absurd price and haven't even used!

Or at very most, I might need to use just a few pages here or there out of the book... Seriously, why are books so damn expensive? Its to the point where I'm almost spending as much on books as I am on tuition!

For the past 2 years I've made a new policy for books. I only buy the book when its actually needed. Funny how many classes I've passed with good grades without even having to buy the book.

In my undergrad days, I learned NEVER to buy the book without seeing the syllabus first. That document saved me thousands easily. When you see exactly how little of the book is actually used, you can save a substantial chunk of change by photocopying the pages that are actually used. As often as not the books were on reserve (i.e. noncirculating) at the campus library.

[Drakstern]

This thread resurfaces...

Ugh, start of a new quarter always drives me nuts, especially since now that I'm approaching the end of my college run(TWO MORE QUARTERS), book prices seem to have skyrocketed.

Even getting used copies and going through the interblag... I'm still looking at a 500 dollar price tag for four classes. Though I guess I was coddled through the last few quarters, since three of my classes all used the same huge book...