
We Rent Movies, So Why Not College Textbooks? - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/business/05ping.html?ref=business
======
apowell
"The textbook business was wildly inefficient"

My understanding is that the textbook business is designed to be inefficient
(from a student's perspective - and very profitable from a publisher's
perspective).

The short lifespan and planned obsolescence of textbooks would make textbook
rental a very difficult business without participation from publishers and
colleges.

Nevertheless, this could be a tremendously useful service for college students
so I wish them the best.

~~~
ubernostrum
"My understanding is that the textbook business is designed to be inefficient
(from a student's perspective - and very profitable from a publisher's
perspective)."

I think this varies quite a bit according to the field of study and the level
of coverage of the topic.

To take one example: introductory calculus (which most undergraduates are
required to take) textbooks can get away with this because students have
little choice. They have to take the course, and so they have to get the book,
and so the publisher essentially has a free hand, abetted by the academic
bookstores which do quite well off the churn of new books.

But this isn't universally applicable. My degree's in philosophy, for example;
I still have all the books, and nearly all of them are still in print in the
same edition. Most of those have been in their current editions at least as
long as I've been alive (fun data point: the teaching guide for one course --
not the text, the _teaching guide_ \-- has been in the same edition since the
1970s). The only things which change frequently are topical anthologies, which
do need to be updated more often to track recent developments.

And anecdotally, I suspect that's a bit more common once you move out of the
math/science area of most schools; the number of standard texts which simply
aren't amenable to constant churn seems to decrease rapidly as you move over
into the liberal arts.

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ianbishop
This already exists - it is called the reference section of the library. I
have never purchased a single calculus textbook or one of those huge $150
dollar physics textbooks.

Instead, I can just go sit at the engineering library for my two hours and
answer the problem set.

As far as studying goes, you can usually find most information you need for
class online that comes from a reputable source. Just make sure to double
check that you didn't miss anything by reading over the chapter the next time
you take out the book.

~~~
jlees
The problem happens when everyone does this and there aren't any copies in the
library. I ended up just buying key textbooks because neither my college or
department libraries sufficed.

~~~
ianbishop
The only time I have ever seen this happen is days leading up to the exam.
Which, if you take good notes, shouldn't make a difference because you'll be
able to just study from you notes. Plus your notes are usually a much more
efficient study material than a textbook anyway.

~~~
lamnk
Maybe your university is small, i have a lot of classes with about 150
students. There are _always not enough textbooks_ for that number of people. I
find hard to believe a library is going to purchase more than 50 copies of one
book title.

~~~
ianbishop
Which is why they are on reserve. Essentially reserve only allows you to have
a textbook for 2 hours and there are usually conditions which do not allow you
to reserve it more than x times per week etc.

If there are 3 reserve texts for a 150 person class where likely 80% of the
people in the class own the book/are not aware of the reference section, you
can assume that you will be able to get a book reserved for a few hours at
your leisure (or at least get on the waitlist).

~~~
jlees
Neither my college or department library had a reserve system.

The department wouldn't let you take key textbooks out of the library, but you
could easily squirrel one away in a corner and work for days uninterrupted.

------
grellas
Some years back, someone posted official-looking signs around the Stanford
campus containing a "confession" from the bookstore admitting that it had been
gouging students for years and offering them refunds.

The bookstore had to hustle to get out its own signs telling students that
this was prank and that no refunds would be issued.

I normally don't condone pranks but this one was pretty clever and it did send
them reeling for a few days anyway.

Anyway, it is probably students' pent-up frustration in feeling trapped by
this system that is the real "secret sauce" behind the success of this
service. Lots of demand. All that was missing was an elegant solution.

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vaksel
How come schools don't provide the textbooks themselves? It worked in high
school. I mean think about it:

a) they can buy in bulk and get a huge discount.

b) they only need to buy 1 set every 2-3 years. Saving money

c) they can decide when to update their edition.

And to pay for this, add a "Textbook surcharge" to each class pricing. This
way the cost can be split between 6-8 students. So a regular $129 book, would
be sold to university at $80, so each student would pay only $10 for the book.

Hell they can probably even make more money by donating the books to some 3rd
world schools.

I mean, I can honestly say that I have not opened a SINGLE book since
graduation. With Google there is absolutely no reason for students to keep
books after the class is over.

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Oompa
If you're smart you can break even, if not profit by buying textbooks used
online, and then selling them again. I made a $300 profit last year on
textbooks.

I bought them cheap online, and then sold them to other students less than the
price of the campus bookstore, online again, or if the price was right, back
to the campus bookstore.

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eli
What are you going to do with 50 copies of the 3rd edition when the 4th
edition comes out?

~~~
kailashbadu
1\. New editions are not churned out every six months. 2\. In most cases you
can get away with not having the latest edition for a class . Schools don't
change the syllabus just because a new edition of a text book has just rolled
out.

~~~
barrkel
No, new editions are churned out every 12 months or so; of course it depends
on the course. I remember my strategic management book was in its 14th
edition, and its first editions was only in the 90s.

And the section numbers, case studies and questions get shuffled around too,
so the previous edition is not sufficient.

The market is inefficient because the folks who choose which books to buy -
the people who set the course - are not the people who have to pony up the
costs. So it's in the interest of the publishers to maximize their gouging of
students, and then spending a good fraction of the surplus on "incentives" for
course setters to keep them on board and recommending the latest edition. The
publisher who gouges the most has the most money to spend capturing these
interests, creating a feedback loop, so for any given course vertical, there's
a tendency to a monopoly.

~~~
antiform
Some schools are fighting back against this. For example, I know that the UCLA
math department has a policy that professors are required to search for a
replacement textbook once a textbook goes beyond the third edition, unless
there is a significant addition of material (e.g. entirely new chapters needed
as a result of recent developments). The idea being: "If the author hasn't got
it by the third edition, they'll never get it."

I believe this eliminated the majority of calculus/linear algebra/diff-eq
texts from introductory courses, so it has become easier to find used copies.

------
Tichy
In Germany there used to be multiple copies of textbooks available at the
university library. At least at the university I studied at. Since then the
universities might have changed a lot, as they started adapting anglo-american
structures (BA and MA studies).

I studied in London for a while and overall I enjoyed university life there
more. But the libraries were really bad compared to the German ones. In
Germany they would also frequently respond to my wishes and buy specific
books, and they would order books from other libraries for free. And they did
so even when I wasn't a student anymore.

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JulianMorrison
The system that exists amounts to rent anyhow. One use and then it's landfill.
The problem isn't renting, it's the price.

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phantom784
From what I've seen, the prices on Chegg are a little more than what you'd end
up spending if you bought all the books used that you could, and then re-sold
them at the end of the semester. I'm seriously considering using Chegg next
semester, however, for the convenience of not having to check various used
book stores for the best prices, and more importantly, of not having to go
around re-selling you books at the end of the semester (plus, the guaranteeing
of saving that money, where sometimes you can't even resell a book because it
won't be in use the next semester at all. This happened to me when I used a
custom "Penn State" edition of my Economics book. Penn State upgraded to the
new edition, and no bookstores wanted it because, of course, no other schools
used the "Penn State" edition.)

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gabriel
The state schools in Wisconsin have a rental system. It worked great. I didn't
have to purchase a single text book. Some classes had several text books,
which the book store would only rent the first or second primary book, but
this wasn't too common.

I do know that the publishers didn't like the university doing this much.
Also, it hindered the professors a little bit because they were pressured to
keep their textbooks to a minimum and to keep the same text book for as long
as possible, even if there was a good justification to switch. So, the text
books had a reputation for not being the best things available for us
students.

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Tichy
One other thing just occurred to me: the books from the courses I really
enjoyed I wanted to keep. If the books are mostly for resale, maybe the
subject is not important enough?

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jhawk28
If they wanted to lower textbook costs, they would not reorganize the chapters
and re-release the books every 2 years.

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jlees
_There is plenty of secret sauce to Chegg’s business, including logistics and
software to determine the pricing and sourcing of books, as well as how many
times a given book can be rented._

Doesn't really sound all that defensible to me...

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jasonlbaptiste
I've used Chegg and I have to say they are going to be a winner/already are.
Quick summary:

-Fast Shipping -Great Prices -GREAT service -Easy to use app

I file them under the "if I had money" I'd invest in them.

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spaghetti
We do rent most textbooks. Buy a book for x, use it for the semester, sell it
back for y (y <= x), and the rental cost per day is (x-y)/numDays. This
doesn't work for the new editions problem of course.

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xsmasher
Why is a "textbook" different than a regular book at all? What can you learn
from it that you can't learn from of K&R, plus "Programming Pearls", and other
books aimed at the target market?

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paraschopra
In India, college students usually get books from their seniors (who give them
out for free, after the results).

------
zandorg
There is the small problem of postage costs. Compare a movie in a sleeve to a
huge book.

