by John Doe 13 Replies latest jw friends
I'm sick of buying textbooks. Class starts monday, and I was just looking for some deals online. Deals are few and far between. For 4 classes, I need six books, averaging well over $100 a piece, with used not substantially lower. The high end one was $165 cheapest price and it is only available new. It's enough to make one ill.
Perhaps I'm stupid, but I haven't sold my old text books in 4 years. For some reason I think I'll want to look at them again one day.
John, did you click the ad just below on this page? You never know what you might find!
did you click the ad just below on this page
How cool is that?! It must have picked up the "ripoff" word and returned a textbook ad.
Text books are a racket, Just like the education system.
But its a hoop you should jump through for a better more marketabel future.
Nowadays, you will need a bachelors degree to have the earning power of a blue collar factory worker from 1960.
There are tricks to navigating the waters.
Talk to the professors. Find out if they are using a new edition or not. Talk to people currently in the class. Offer to "split the difference." You will give them more than what the book store will give, but less than what the book store would charge you. X them out.
I work for a textbook publisher. The cost of materials of your typical textbook is very low, lower than you probably would care to know. The development costs is what you're paying for, and they can run into the millions of dollars, no lie. The professors who write them are the cream of their field, and the competition for their services among the major publishing players means that they can command a princely sum for their services. And there is so, so much more that goes into creating a textbook than with other kinds of books.
Several of the professors say they are rip-offs. Several of my undergraduate and graduate school professors were textbook authors.
One of mine in grad school is in his ninth edition or more, and is putting his daughter through college on his royalties. I won't give his area of expertise, because it would narrow it down to like a dozen people or less, and I don't want to put him on blast like that.
Here is what I do.......
I go to the school library and check out one of the books (ususally a 2 hour limit) I will be using next semsester. Scan it into PDF, OCR it and return for the next book. .... This way I am only carting around my laptop & a stick or two.
I save about $300-600 per semester.
If the library doesn't allow check-outs..... borrow one from a classmate.
Here is what I do....... I go to the school library and check out one of the books (ususally a 2 hour limit) I will be using next semsester. Scan it into PDF, OCR it and return for the next book. .... This way I am only carting around my laptop & a stick or two. I save about $300-600 per semester. If the library doesn't allow check-outs..... borrow one from a classmate.
aw man...putting me out of a job.
I've bought 4 so far, and I'm debating whether I'll buy the rest. I can get all of the cases from the online legal databases, so the only thing I'd be missing would be the author's viewpoint. I could probably dig that up online or even find a copy of the book in a library. ;-) The only thing is, it's a pain when the professor prompts for a certain page in the book and all you've got is a computer screen pulled up.
I don't mind paying $100 for a good textbook. When it goes over $100 though, I start squealing a little, and I sure as hell ain't gonna grab my ankles and pay $160. It's the principle of the thing. ;-)
