Generation Magazine

By Josh Q. Newman

 If you’re on a budget—and, assuming you’re a college student, you probably are—then one of the most dreaded words that comes to mind is “bookstore.”

 The University Bookstore has received considerable flack from students because of the price of books. A price tag of $500 for the semester’s reading list is not uncommon (the national average is $488), which, combined with other pesky expenses like room, board and tuition, can make the final tally longer than Moby-Dick. But the management stresses that the University Bookstore does everything it can to help students, not antagonize them.

 “A lot of students perceive the bookstore as the big, bad wolf,” says Nadine Manzella, the store’s customer service manager. “The notion, though, that we like to make students mad is ridiculous. If we treat them that way, then we couldn’t be doing business.”

 The University Bookstore, which is part of the larger international eFollett Corporation, is the only textbook store on campus. Along with its sister medical bookstore on South Campus, it provides almost every course book UB students need. In the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of English is the only department that doesn’t exclusively use the bookstore—it requests its books from the independently owned Talking Leaves Bookstore on Main Street. It does, however, assign books from the University Bookstore for some introductory and intermediate courses.

 Bill Adamczyk, the textbook manager, explains that the high prices come from the publishers.

 “We get our books from wholesalers or directly from the publishers,” he says. “The prices are usually based on content, electronic materials, printing services, updating, and researching subjects. eFollett has no control over their prices.”

 The University Bookstore functions on a routine process. Every year, it sends out a letter to each department requesting information about needed books and supplies. When it receives the information, the bookstore looks for and negotiates with wholesalers and publishers. The bookstore is usually prepared with all required materials by the time each semester begins.

 One of the larger problems the University Bookstore faces is its public image, something that has generally taken a beating ever since it was founded. Though that may not matter to the student who has to spend $200 or more for one class, it does tend to annoy those who work hard to keep the store in operation.

 “It has been a problem,” says store director Gregory Neumann. “The media has been fair for the past few years but we were getting hammered during the ’90s. The bookstore gets an undeserved image.”

 Managers argue that the University Bookstore has no direct control over the price of textbooks—the eFollett Corporation determines the prices, only 7 percent of which, according to released figures, goes toward the publisher’s income. Though the bookstore will not release its gross margin because it is “proprietary information,” it does claim that it’s very close to the national average of 23 percent.

 “The bookstore does everything it can to make books affordable,” Adamczyk says. “We try to get as many used books as possible. If we could, we would only get used ones.”

 “The bookstore provides a lot of assistance to the UB community,” Neumann adds. “We provide funds to many student organizations and set up free raffles and giveaways. That’s not to mention our rental agreement.”

 The rental agreement, an experimental program started by eFollett last year, allows students to rent books instead of purchasing them outright. Students can rent certain textbooks for approximately 45 percent of the original price. The program has proven to be popular among students—students rented nearly 4,300 books last semester.

 UB is one of a few schools to have the rental option. Of the 860 stores under eFollett operation, only 20 currently have the agreement. Next fall, eFollett is expected to allow renting in nearly half of its stores.

 “It’s something that I think we got into because of the competitive market,” Neumann says. “We have to keep pace with other retailers and online stores. eFollett made the decision to rent and it has certainly helped.”

 Managers point out that the University Bookstore also contributes to the job market. It employs 38 full- and part-time workers for the whole year. During peak sales, which usually occur before, during and after the first week of classes, it hires approximately 70 temporary employees to accommodate the flood of customers.

 The management notes that although students have to get books one way or another, it realizes that the store must provide great service to keep students coming back.

 “We work closely with faculty and publishers to get the best possible deals,” Manzella says. “We make a profit, yes, but we want to make sure that students are satisfied with what we have to offer and how we offer it. The best business is repeat business.”

Popularity: unranked [?]

Related posts:

1. Confessions of a Textbook Salesman An in-depth look at the seedy relationships between professors and...
2. Kindle vs. Nook vs. Book In the battle between e-readers, the Kindle that started it...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.