Thursday, February 19,1998 NEWS/CAMPUS CALENDER The Capital Times
Bookstore pricing; cost effective or cost driven?
by Rick Deitz
Seventy-one dollars. $7l. Sev
enty-one and no/100. No matter
how it appears it is the price of a
new copy of the textbook required
for Industrial Psychology this
spring.
The book is hard backed and mea
sures nine inches long by seven
inches wide by one inch thick.
There are no spectacular colors in
the book nor are there complicated
graphics. So why is this book, or
any book, this expensive? Every
student has had to pay for books
they thought were too expensive
and have pondered the same ques
tion.
Debra Schwanke, who has been
the manager of the bookstore since
Jan. '9B explained that all of Penn
State's bookstores are run by
Barnes and Noble, a publishing
company based in New York City.
The bookstore building is owned by
Penn State but leased to Barnes and
Noble. Barnes and Noble employs
the bookstore staff as well. All
these are items that must be paid
for with income from the bookstore.
However, this does not dictate the
mark-up on book prices. "Many of
the books we sell have retail prices
that are pre-determined by the pub-
Sunda
The Campus Calendar for Penn State Harrisburg:
for weeks of February 19 thru March 14
March 1
fisher," Schwanke said. Although
she would not give a firm figure,
she said a good national average
would be about 25%.
This figure is on the low side ac
cording to a source at the Arkansas
Book Co., a large warehouse dis
tributor of textbooks. They said a
better average would be between 35
and 50 percent. In order to come
up with a price for books that is not
dictated by the publisher, the price
is determined by Barnes and Noble
then approved by Penn State,
Schwanke said.
The markup of the books is fairly
reasonable. After all, a business has
to make a profit, no one will argue
that. However, there must be a way
to make it more affordable for the
student. Most students would like
to be able to plan how much they
will need for books and tuition, not
get surprised by a $lOO, 10-page
book.
One professor said he likes to or
der back issues of books because
they are normally less expensive
than the current editions. Usually,
they are not much different as far
as the text is concerned. However,
even when he does this the book
store gets the current and, therefore,
most expensive book.
Monda
3 4
Women's Interest Speakers: "Employee Owner- Public Policy Lecture Series
ship: A Case Study „ presented by Dr. Steven
Dr. Beverly Cigler Peterson
10AM presented by 12-I:3OPM
Downtown Center
Dr. Yvonne Milspaw Gene Kowalski Simple Gifts plays Irish jigs to
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Gallery Lounge Eastgate Center Gallery Lounge
Tuesda
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National Eating Disorders Black History Computer Tear Down
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Every Tuesday 213 C Olm 12PM Meade Heights
12:30-1:30PM Conference Center, Gallery Lounge
BCAC W-132 Olm Schu lkill Cam .us Housing Office
Schwanke could not comment of
the purchasing policy because she
has only been the manager since
January. However, she did say that
there seems to be a problem with
professors turning in their book or
ders on time. Some 75% of the
book orders were turned in late for
the spring semester, according to
Schwanke. Of those, 26% were
more that six weeks late. This does
not effect the price of the books but
it does cost extra to ship the books
in quickly so that they are available
in time for the start of class.
The textbook mentioned at the
beginning of the article cost $7l.
Why is it so expensive? Schwanke
called ITP, the publisher of the
book, and identified herself as a stu
dent. She was told the retail price
of the book was $71.95. Penn State
offers a whole 95 cent discount.
ITP, when called directly, gave the
same price. They would not release
a wholesale price.
Several local retail book stores all
said they could order the book and
sell it for $65.95. They also said
they may be able to discount it fur
ther if more than one were ordered.
One store added they get the text at
a 15% discount and their wholesaler
probably gets it at a 40% discount.
Wednesda
Using the publisher's price of
$71.95 that gives the book a whole
sale price of about $43. A book you
feel is over priced could be taken
to your local book store. With the
ISBN number, it could be available
ovenight at a cheaper rate.
When the semester starts and you
fork over hundreds of dollars for
your books, you hope to get a rea
sonable portion of that back when
you sell it back. As students file
into the bookstore to sell back their
books, they cringe when they hear,
"It's not being used next semester."
The refund is infinitesimal when
compared to the purchase price.
Why is so little refunded? Is the
book not worth more than this?
According to the source at Arkan
sas Books, publishers do not make
any money on book buy-backs be-
Scheduling problems unattended
from page 1
ules, not to regulate them. But
simple guidelines allowed for 75
minute periods on M/W which have
been causing conflicts since at least
1993.
This semester alone, 33 classes
were scheduled in that time frame.
All were held Monday and Wednes
day only. Due to the requirement
Thursda
February 19
Art Exhibit, Linda
Rugel, "Faces,
Phases, Forms"
On display from
Feb. 16-Apr. 3
Gallery Lounge
cause they do not redistribute them.
Contrast this with a distributor who
will buy the book back at just be
low wholesale then re-sell it to an
other university that needs it. Penn
State's bookstores are run by a pub
lisher, so getting a decent return on
a used book is unlikely. The rare
exception is if the book will be used
again in an upcoming semester.
Is there a solution? If the most
recent edition of a textbook cost $42
and the previous edition was $22
and is still available, then all par
ties concerned might agree to use
the less expensive textbook. The
student saves $2O. In return, maybe
they buy one of those Penn State
ties, T-shirts or coffee mugs that
have been in the back of the book
store since Joe-Pa coached his first
game.
for some courses of study, some
exceptions are necessary. They are
mostly lab classes and were not in
cluded in the 33 classes Segnor
highlighted. "I realize some classes
need to be longer," he said.
However, most of the long classes
present a problem, he added, "But
will the faculty or staff actually do
anything about it?"
Frida ,
BSU Bake Sale
11:30-2:00PM
Basement of
Olmsted near
Lion's Den
Saturda