If you focus on the 30 or 40 wars currently being waged around the world, the university textbook wars may elude you, but at the beginning and end of each semester, they're right under your nose.
These are the periods of high anxiety, when students go to the bookstore to buy their books and then return to sell back the same books.Officials at the University of Utah Bookstore insist that their profit margin is thin and that they willingly buy books back from students during finals week at 50 percent of the new book price.
But U. students say the cost of books is astronomical and that they're lucky if they get 10 percent of the price back. Very often, they say, the bookstore won't give them anything.
Go figure. Maybe a two-semester communication course would help both sides understand each other, but for now, the textbook sellers and the textbook buyers are speaking different languages.
Earl Clegg, the director of the U. bookstore, concedes that the textbook industry "is complex and unique. We buy what professors TELL us to buy, and then we sell the books to customers who do not WANT to buy -- even though they MUST buy."
Clegg continues, "When freshmen register, they are socked with a $1,500 tuition bill, plus a $300-$400 tab for textbooks -- and they just got 12 years of schooling for practically nothing. It's sticker shock."
Clegg is always trying to explain bookstore costs to irritated students. Before he can address the complexities of author income, publisher's administrative costs, paper and printing, freight and marketing, the bewildered student usually slips away.
"We can get books much more cheaply than we can send them back," says Clegg. He contracts for an entire semitrailer truck to cross the country with an exclusive load of U. books.
But not all of them are sold. According to Dave Jones, director of course materials, 35 percent of the books were still on the shelves at the end of fall semester. "With our recent conversion to semesters," he says, "It's difficult to know how many books we need. Who will enroll? We just don't know."
Even so, Clegg and Jones maintain that textbook mark-up is much lower than in other forms of retailing.
"If you go to Barnes and Noble and pick up a work of fiction," says Jones, "half of each dollar remains profit, whereas in our industry it's about 25 percent."
Even so, textbooks are expensive, because only about 2,000 of each are initially printed, whereas popular novels are churned out in runs of 1 million to 2 million copies each.
Moreover, if the professor relinquishes the book the next semester in favor of a new edition, the value of the old book goes into free-fall.
No wonder students get upset. Jones says one student recently asked him how he sleeps at night.
Clegg and Jones maintain that they give the students half of the retail value of the book, providing it will be used the following semester, and that it is "usable," meaning the spine is intact without missing pages.
Nevertheless, they are mystified that when they sell 300 copies of a large psychology book, for instance, and only get 50 books back for resale.
"How can 250 students like that book so much they decide to keep it?" asks Clegg. "I think they are so glad to get those tests over that they put the books in their rooms and forget about them."
According to Jones, some students wait until commencement, then try to sell back every dusty book they used for four years. By then, most are out of print and bring little return.
Many students express anger at bookstore policies. Elizabeth Warnick, a senior English major, says, "Usually, I pay $50 for a book, then get $5 for it at the end of the year -- then they take that same book and sell it for $35."
Sophia Aerakis, a sophomore in communication, says, "The book prices are horrible. I buy a book for $60 and then return it for $10 when there isn't anything wrong with it. I think we're getting ripped off."
Ashley Pingree, a freshman chemical engineering major, expects high prices but wishes for a higher return value. "Utah Text Book Company is a really cool place," she says. "When the U. bookstore is out of something, a lot of times Utah Text Book will have it."
Utah Text Book, an alternative store in Foothill Village, is owned by an 11-year-old company called Fort Worth Books. It has been serving U. students for more than a year.
According to Don Lillo, store manager, "Students are saving money. We guarantee we will charge less than the U. bookstore on every book."
He considers his buy-back policy superior to the U.'s, because he will buy back any time during the semester. "Even if the U. is not using the book any more, we will try to sell it over the computer to a wholesale company."
Lillo says he gets large numbers of used books from wholesale companies, then passes the savings on to the students. "I'm glad when students see a book selling over there for $60 and they can buy it here for $42. They go crazy."
Lillo says he gets no complaints from students.
"That ain't gonna happen. If they say, 'Hey, they charge less over there than we bought a book here,' we'll take care of it on the spot. We also reserve books for them months in advance. Alls they have to do is when they get their schedules, call in and we'll get the books and put them under their names."
Most U. students seem aware of Utah Text Book Company, but few admit to having been there. According to Clegg, "Sometimes they (Utah Text Book) sell lower and sometimes we do, depending on the book. It's good to have them around, because they dispel the myth that we have a monopoly."
Dana Hedquist, a freshman in chemistry, says, "Utah Text Book listed the wrong books for my classes, so I don't know if I can trust them any more."
Annie Harrell, a junior English major, recalls buying one book for $80 and getting only $20 for it at buy-back time at the U. bookstore. "It was brand new. I have another book now that cost $80, but I know I'm not going to get more than $20 for it."
Carson Hoytt, a junior in civil engineering, says he paid $425 at the U. bookstore for eight textbooks during fall semester, then sold back half of them for only $32.
"You just expect whatever they give you," he says.
Dana Pabst, a senior in political science, says she keeps most of her books for future use. "My books are not very expensive -- they are usually paperback -- but I have to purchase a lot of them."
Ale Jandro, a senior history major, works part time for the U. bookstore. He recalls paying $200 for the books for one history course. "I'm very unhappy with the prices. The difference between new and used books is small. The new one may cost $65 and the used one costs $55. Then when you turn them in, they give you $5 or $10."
Since students and bookstore officials have differing interpretations, the U. bookstore advisory committee, made up of three students, five faculty members and two staff members, has a continuing challenge.
The bookstore operates under the direction of the university, but it is completely self-supporting and is not subsidized by either tax dollars or student fees.
Many students are unaware of that. Some blame high prices on their suspicion that the U. bookstore is an independent enterprise. It is not. Earl Clegg maintains that he and his staff do very little without consulting the bookstore committee.
But Arnold Combe, interim U. vice president of administrative services, who has overall supervision for the bookstore, says bookstore officials have a free hand in daily operations, and the bookstore advisory committee meets only about three times a year.
Combe believes it would be helpful to have a dialogue with students early in the semester to listen to gripes about the bookstore. He also believes faculty members ought to help by using a textbook for at least one year.