I am writing this primarily to
inform other students, but also to
express my personal disgust with
the apparent policies of the "corner
bookstores."
Along with most other students,
when I received my text list for fall
courses, I went to one of the corner
bookstores to purchase them. Upon
returning to my room, I noticed the
price marked on one paperback,
Readings from the Wealth of
Nations, a required text for Economics
I, was a paper sticker
pricing the book at $0.65.
Under this sticker, printed on the
cover, was the original $0.50 price.
An even more flagrant example of a
price markup on a required textbook
is the paperback Scalar and
Vector Fields, necessary to EE 307.
On the cover in the left upper
corner is a paper sticker with the
publishing company's name printed
on it. Underneath this the original
price of $2.95 is printed on the
cover. Inside, stamped on the title
page, is the price being charged for
the book, $4.95. This means a price
markup of 67 per cent!
I can't help but suspect that
such price markups occur on many
other texts. It would seem that
book costs are in fact not dictated
by the publishers, as claimed by
bookstore owners, but set by them
to exploit students faced with
purchasing required texts. Perhaps
this is the accepted way for
text-supplying bookstores to make
their profit. I for one, however,
cannot shake off the feeling of
having been taken.
Jeffrey Clarus Rice
Engr. 3
