Textbooks: Joseph Gray’s Opinion

The textbook business is more like a racket than a business. The changing of a few words and page numbers, to make a “new edition” is a farce. Very little or no new content is added. This is done to kill the sale of used textbooks and force the student to buy a new book at an unjustifiably high price. In most academic subjects, there really isn’t a need to have a new edition every year.

I am currently taking three classes (Summer session) and I purchased the required textbooks online for about $200 (with shipping). If I had purchased these same textbooks at the university bookstore, the price would have been double. I’m sure the online sellers are making a good profit, so the university pricing is pure price gouging of a captive market.

Some years ago, I took a course where the required textbook was written by the instructor. Not only was the textbook pure crap, but it was outragiously priced. And it was a medium-sized paperback.

If textbooks had to compete for sales like other books, none of this would be happening. However, the collusion between the publishers, the universities and the professors, keep this extortion racket going.

The only recourse that the student has is to see if he can find the textbooks online. Even there, he usually has to buy the expensive “new edition”, rather than a perfectly good used book.

Our governments investigate businesses like Microsoft, phone companies and satellite radio companies over concerns about monopolistic practices, price fixing and dirty deals. What about taking a look at the textbook industry?

Check out cheap college textbooks at DavesCampus.com.