Why are college text book prices so abusively high? Books would never sell for that in borders.?

Question

Why do the bookstores think they need to make a 300k profit each year? I thought the public colleges are non-profit services, meaning they just need to break even.

& Why do they require these professors to keep pubishing new books every year?

& why do they keep purchasing these new editions?

Information doesn't change that much in the cousre of 5 to 10 years. But they update their books every 1-3 years.

& how come when a book is 3 years old........they still charge new prices for it? like books from 2005 they might be selling in the store for 130 dollars, but online it's selling for 20 dollars. That makes it so inconvenient to buy the book because you have to either get it online & wait a week for it, or pay outrageous prices in the store (if you happen to need it in a timely manner). Buying it online is so inconvenient because you have to go into the store, collect the information, and then search for it online.

Why can't they operate like a high school...........in high school, they loan you the books, for free........and when the semester's over, you return the books back to them; for free. (if you happen to lose the book it might be a $50 fine).

So why can't a college bookstore operate like a high school or library?

In borders bookstore, barnes & noble, joseph beth etc. those book stores.........what could they charge for a book? maybe $30 if it's decent. Seriously. No book should be valued at $120. Even those used book they try to charge you over 100 bucs for. crazy.

Answer 1

You must remember that there is a smaller number of those text books printed compared to high school books or those found in a book store. Information does change quite often and books have to be updated accordingly. I know it seems like a high price to pay for the text, but you can always sell it back if it is going to be used again. You are right in that some colleges are supposed to be non-profit, but they have an overhead to pay for as well. Someone on the net does not have that so they sell for much less.

Answer 2

Supply and demand, and monopoly.  They've got you, and they know it.

The supply is small, and you can't buy a competitor's book.

A professor can write a book, require it for his course, keep republishing it so you have to buy the new edition, and make a lot of money.  If you have a professor who is doing that, you might ask him how much he makes on his books.