Word: coops
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Closer to home, textbooks’ soft-cover cousins aren’t getting any cheaper either. Coursepacks that Harvard Printing and Publication Services (HPPS) used to handle are now being farmed out to XanEdu, a for-profit printer, and sold at the Harvard Coop. The extra distribution costs plus the Coop’s markup can only mean higher prices for students (then again, HPPS’s abrupt departure from the coursepack printing business means their low prices must have been to some extent financially unsustainable...
...Protean Enemy,” are available for free through Harvard’s e-resources. Another Core, Historical Studies B-64, has a coursepack which will cost students $172. The cost of the coursepack and the next two most expensive books, when bought at the Coop, is $302. Most distressing, though, has to be the Ec 10 “package deal” that the Coop is offering. One hundred and forty-nine dollars gets you a new textbook and new coursepack, wrapped together. Separately, the coursepack is $66 and the used textbook $111. In this case...
...used markets before classes start. Case in point: the syllabus and reading list for History 10a were posted the first day of class, leaving students scrambling to the nearest, and most expensive, book merchants to fill up their shelves. Submitting reading lists earlier could even help the Coop keep prices lower by allowing longer lead times for its staff to negotiate with distributors and to buy back books from students...
...course, professors are not ultimately to blame for the outrageous prices of course materials today. And though the Coop seemingly has room to improve a few coursepack prices, the store actually makes its lowest margins on textbooks. Those really to blame for high textbook prices, textbook publishers, face only as much pressure to lower prices as students and professors can exert. This situation is unlikely to change anytime soon. However, through some of the simple steps outlined—using e-resources, submitting reading lists earlier, remaining compatible with old editions, and avoiding switching textbooks—professors...
While the Harvard Book Store plans to sell the 672-page hardcover for $23.96 and Curious George’s for $22.50, the Coop, which is backed by Barnes and Noble, will offer...