New textbooks are just too expensive! Here is an alternative to letting your unwanted promotional texts go out of date on your shelves: Recycle! The Faculty Buyback Program is the sole supply of used textbooks to your bookstore besides whatever the students sell back themselves. Used books save students money and that’s Green!
A challenging aspect of our business is the recent attempt by some administrators to try to discourage the selling of comp copies. Certainly, the very wealthy publishers would benefit fabulously by any restrictions exerted on the used market. Imagine if Ford or Honda tried to restrict the sale of used cars saying it was immoral. People wouldn’t stand for it. But the students don’t get to choose how to spend their own money. They are a captive market required to purchase these materials for their classes. Some students spend over $1000 per semester. Its bad enough that the publishers charge often 3 to 4 times over normal market value (like if you bought books at Barnes & Noble). But limiting the supply of used copies is tantamount to forcing students to buy only new books, providing the publishers with the most profit.
Textbook publishing is the MOST profitable of any print publishing in the world. Like ITP Thompson, Pearson is a multi-billion (yes, with a “B”) dollar company. Yet, that apparently is not enough. Some legislators and administrators are saying it is “unethical” to resell your books. That is just what the publishers say! Hey, $5 per gallon gas is great for Exxon (who just pocketed the most profit of any company in the history of the human race), but is it good for you? Is “new only” good for your students and their parents?
Just to clarify, according to United States Postal Code, any books you receive belong to YOU, not the school or any other entity. They are yours to do with whatever you see fit including resale. This is the law. And it is supported by legal opinion* across the county. Solicitous merchandise is required by law to say “not-for-sale” on it: so they can’t turn around and charge YOU for it! Is this about ethics or PROFIT?
The bookstore is licensed by wholesalers Follett or MBS (Barnes & Noble) who contract Faculty Book Buyers to get these books back into the system. Every book with a yellow USED sticker comes from either a student selling his or her book back, or a Book Buyer (like yours truly) working for the Faculty Buyback Program of that wholesaler. All books I buy go directly back to the bookstore and provide more desperately needed USED BOOKS.
Help keep textbooks affordable for students: Please recycle your unwanted books on a regular basis. Contact me for a convenient appointment.
Thank you!
Dylan at Recycled Books
917-582-9369
Email dylan@dylannirvana.com
*United States Postal Reorganization Act P.L. 91-375 Section 3009, Mailing of unordered merchandise; Alabama state ethics commission; Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling; Complimentarily Yours: Free Examination Copies and Textbook Prices – James E Foster, Andrew W. Horowitz – Vanderbilt University, Elsevier Press.
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