14

UMass/Boston: The Road Taken

Books
If you're a new student, you'll soon realize what returning students are already familiar with: the beginning
of the semester means buying books, notebooks, pens,
pencils, hi-lighters, book bags, and all kinds of other
school-related stuff. If you're one of those students without an endless supply of greenbacks, the cost of some of
these items may leave you with feelings ranging from
anger to amusement and a list of questions that starts with
the obvious and ends with the downright paranoid:
Aren't the prices for some of these books kind of steep?
Or: hasn't this book gone through a lot of editions for so
many minor alterations? Or: isn't this bookstore raking in
an awful lot of my dough? It might even cross you mind
that maybe the publishers have a plan for making textbooks obsolete or, that maybe some of the professors
are receiving kickbacks for choosing the most expensive
books for their courses.
Responses to such questions and suspicions vary considerably, depending upon who one asks. One thing is
certain: there are no simple answers to any of these relatively simple questions. Still, I was surprised at the
dominant theme that seemed to emerge from some of my
conversations with retailers and one publisher (three other
publishers did not return my calls): it would seem that
publishing and retailing textbooks are not very lucrative
businesses to be in. Although nobody I talked with denied
that producing and selling textbooks is a multi-billion
dollar industry, I couldn't find anyone willing to admit
that it was a reasonably decent way to make a living.
Publishers point to the extraordinary costs of producing a
book and of paying royalties to the author. Retailers point
to their dreadfully low profit margin on the sale of new^
textbooks. Everyone, it seems, wants to come out looking
good. Both the publishers and retailers would almost have
you believe that they are giving the books away, when
you ask them how much they are making in profits. And
yet, it sure seems to cost students a lot for such tacit public
.service.

"Now, there may be a legitimate reason

for changing editions or notf but if you
call it 'planned obsolescence, 'yeah,"
needs to be updated...
"There's also the used book market. The more used
copies I buy, the fewer new copies I buy from the
publisher. This affects the publisher. It affects the money
they make. It affects the author: the author makes
royalties on his books, and does not make royalties when
they're re-sold on the used book market. To combat that,
what is done is editions are changed. Now, there may be a
legitimate reason for changing editions or not, but if you
call it 'planned obsolescence,' yeah."
Chris Catchick, manager of The Harvard Bookstore,
concurs with the second part of Laliberte's assessment:
"Because of the high volume of used book sales,
publishers seem to be turning out new editions more
frequently."
But, of the five people to whom I addressed this question, only Catchick and Laliberte answered in the affirmative. Damaris Ames of Houghton Mifflin categorically
denied that any such practice took place and seemed
offended that I would even suggest the possibility. New
editions, she said, were necessary solely to keep a textbook's material up-to-date, jay Hamilton, spokesperson
for The Harvard Coop, agreed with Ames, while a
spokesperson for another Cambridge bookstore, who
requested that neither he nor his store be mentioned by
name, said, "no comment," then hastily added, "I'm sure a
lot of us have bones to pick with publishers, but I'm not in"
the position to say anything. I shouldn't even be saying
anything rigjit now." The defensive nervousness of this last
quoted, unnamed secret agent of textbooks would seem
to lead us to a third, and. markedly more paranoid
question:

Do Publishers Offer Professors Incentives Or

Kickbacks For Choosing One Book Over
Another?

Piles of books make up the tiisles of-the'bookstore, wniting for the Full
twh.

.
'

Are Textbooks Too Expensive?

Damaris Ames, communications director for Houghton
Mifflin, a Boston-based publisher of college textbooks,
answered: "Let me turn the question around on you and
ask: are they really expensive compared to what you
would pay if you went out for a movie and dinner?. ,
.Whether they are expensive or not depends on what
value you place on books. . .on the value of your
education to you, doesn't it?" That'll teach me not to give
my questions to Houghton Mifflin a day in advance again.
Rick Laliberte, manager of the UMass/Boston bookstore, answered the question with a laugh: "What a loaded
question! Everybody charges too much. If you go to
McDonald's and pay $1.20 for a Big Mac, they charge too
much.. .it's all relative." Okay, Rick, have it your way.
A spokesperson at Barnes and Noble, who would not
give me her name, was even blunter: "I'm not going to
answer any questions. If it's direct customer service that
you want, then you don't want this store. You want The
Harvard Bookstore or The Coop." Okay, okay, so it really
was a dumb question. How about this one.

Do Publishers Have a 'Planned Obsolescence'

Scheme?
"Oh, yeah," says Rick Laliberte, but adds, "It depends .
on what you mean. If you take a 4ook at books that go
from first to second to third to fourth to fifth editions
sure, of course there is, and publishers will tell you that,
too. The way it's explained is that material constantly

the sale of their other items as they do now. If students

had to go elsewhere for their textbooks, they would
probably purchase their other school-related paraphernalia elsewhere, too. If the profit margin for textbooks is so
low, then it raises the profit margin on the sale of other
items. In short, selling textbooks isn't nearly the burden or
public service that it is sometimes made out to be but is, in
fact, a rather handsomely profitable enterprise.
To combat the feeling if nothing else of being
boondoggled, forced to buy extravagantly priced books,
all at one place, the finicky student may find it rewarding
to explore or re-explore some other bookstores to
compare prices. Publishers and college bookstores know
that not a whole lot of students will choose to do this

Somewhere between handing over $100 to $150 to the

bookstore cashier for six.or seven books, the mind begins
to conjure up such improbable suspicions. "We do send
comparative intorrnation on various texts to professors,"
Damaris Ames said, "but there are no so-called
incentives."
Rick Laliberte dismissed the question with another
laugh: "I don't know anything about that. . .You-can
speculate on anybody who buys anything. If somebody is
in the business of buying toilet paper for the University
they buy huge quantities of toilet paper are there kick
backs involved in getting your toilet paper from
Kimberly-Clark and not somebody else? Who knows?"

Publishers thrive in a capitalist society;

\their pseudo-beneficence is proportional
to their actual margin of profit.
While it may, indeed, be stretching things a bit to imply
professors would accept incentives or kickbacks from
publishers for buying one book over another, the
problem remains: for a great many students at UMass/
Boston, few of whom come from upper-middleclass or
filthy rich backgrounds, the spiralling cost of books is
financially burdensome. It does little good to quibble with
publishing house public relations people over complex
production costs at union pay scales and the need to
continually update book material a lot of this is true,
but some of it is inflated and misleading. For instance, the
overall production costs for revised editions aren't nearly
what they are for new editions, but this discrepancy is not
reflected in the price' of a revised book. Many books
come out in new editions for virtually no other reason
than to compete with the used book market. Publishers
thrive in a capitalist society; their pseudo-beneficence is
proportional to their actual margin of profit.
Nor does it do any good to rue the fate of retailers, with
their rniniseule profit margins, on the sale of textbooks.
Bookstores, like UMass/Boston's, that primarily serve
students, and claim to make so little money on the sale of
textbooks, need to be reminded that if they didn't s^ll
textbooks they wouldn't make nearly as much money on

Rick Lnliberk; innnagerof'UMB's iwkstore.

either because students haven't got the time or because

they just want to get the whole thing over with at once.
Whatever the case, it is to the student's benefit to checkout the options. If you have the time or inclination, visit
the dozen or so bookstores in Harvard Square and Central
Square: chances are that you will find a course book "or*
two, or three, or more, used or at a savings.

Some Races To Buy Your Books

The UMass/Boston Bookstore is located on the G2
level of the administration building. It is operated by
Brennan College Services (a contract-management company whose headquarters are in Springfield, Mass.) and
managed by Rick Laliberte, a Brennan employee, who
emphasises' that he is fond of fielding any and all questions students have concerning textbooks.
Though book prices won't be any cheaper here than
someplace else, many students will find reassurance in the
fact that virtually all of the books they will need for their
courses are available here or can be quickly made
available. This should not, however, hinder students on a
tight budget, or students simply tired of paying exorbitant
prices, from checking out other sources for books.
Just about every new textbook at the UMB Bookstore
is sold at the publisher's specified list price. On the average, Laliberte says that he pays the publisher about*20%
less than the list price for a book, which is pretty much a
standard in the textbook retailing industry. This means
that if you give Laliberte $20 for a new book, $16 of that
goes right to the publisher the other four dollars of that
toward paying for shipping and handling, labor, and rent.
If you can find that same book used, you will pay only
$15, or 25% off the list price. For this reason, Laliberte
tries to assuage some of the grumbling over the high,
prices for new textbooks by making as many used books
available to students as he can, On the average, 25-30%
of his supply of textbooks are used and they go fast, so
you must get to them early.
The UMass Bookstore is also good for another thing:
they will buy back some of your books from you at the
end of the semester - but only if the publisher isn't
preparing to come out with a new edition of that book.
The bookstore will give you half of the current list price
value of the book. So, if you originally paid $20 for a new
textbook, the bookstore will give you $10 for it (they
will then tack on 25% and sell the book used for $15).
This is not bad, especially if you're one of those students
who discovers that the content-value of the book falls
somewhat short of the price you paid for it.

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