I spent around $500 this Fall semester on books. $300+ was spent on books “CUSTOM MADE FOR SFSU”. If a book says custom made for SFSU, it basically means… HAHAHA WE GOT YOU SUCKER!
Custom editions prepared just for that specific University is a new trend in the text book publishing industry. Why would anyone spend $100 on a new book when you know you will only use it for 4 months? Instead, get a used book that is half the retail cost of the new book. But no, you can’t do that. The text book publishers can’t profit that way if all we do is buy used books online. Coming out with a new edition every semester wasn’t enough for them so now they are convincing universities to sign on to this custom edition program.
I bought 3 books this time around that happen to be custom edition prepared for San Francisco State University. Two books were for my Management 407 class and one book was for my Accounting Information Systems class, ACCT 307. I went to the so called book buyback outside the SFSU library yesterday and two of my custom made books were rejected. I went into the bookstore to find out if they are using the new edition. But no, they are still using the same book, selling it for the same price I paid 4 months ago. SFSU bookstore didn’t have a single used book on the shelf, why would they, it’s a custom book, the only place you can get it is at the SFSU bookstore and because it is the required book, students will buy it no matter how expensive it is.
I get it, university is not a right, it is a privilege but that doesn’t mean that hurdles be placed to make sure that students start considering the cost of books to be so material in their budget that they end up either getting a student loan or dropping out. Text book publishers make a lot of money and so do the writers who write the book. We live in a capitalistic society and this is how it is suppose to be but I believe these custom editions are now entering the territory called Monopoly. In a monopoly, there are no competitors, there is only one sucker !
Anywayz, I obviously have the book, if by miracle you stumbled on this post looking for MGMT 407 and ACCT 307 books, I still have them…. get in touch with me… I will sell it to you for half the retail cost.
