The LSU Bookstore has managed to maintain its textbook sales despite stiff competition from local bookstores and Internet sites offering cheaper prices for books.
Some students have turned to the Internet and price matching as an alternative to shopping at the Union bookstore.
“I buy from the bookstore because it is more reliable and I know what I am getting,” said Markisha Stewart, a sociology senior.
A’Tiffa Wilson, a business senior, said the University bookstore is convenient for her to buy textbooks.
She said she thought ordering online would be economical, but did not realize she would have to pay shipping fees.
Unlike Wilson and Stewart, some students such as Tina Falcon, an accounting junior, and Derric Myers, an accounting senior, compare the local bookstores prices.
“Students dread buying books, and we scrounge for ways to save money,” Falcon said.
Falcon said she will buy from any store as long as it has her book cheaper than the others.
She said she only buys from the Union bookstore when she cannot find her textbook anywhere else.
Myers said he never shops at the Union bookstore because “they never have the lowest price.”
Union bookstore manager Joe Bender said even though it is hard to compete with local stores and Internet sites, he estimates that 65 percent of bookstore sales can be attributed to textbooks.
Yet, despite the number of textbooks sold, other stores, like the Chimes Textbook Exchange (CTX), have gained a strong following of students.
Sylvia Hinojosa, manager of CTX, said “word of mouth” has helped her store because students know the prices are cheaper than the University.
Jason Brakel, a public administration graduate student, said he shops at CTX because he always has found that prices are cheaper.
Bender said it is expected for students to have the perception that the Union bookstore is the most expensive.
No one likes to buy college textbooks, Bender said. But students have to buy them so they can pass their classes.
“It is a necessary evil,” he said.
Hinojosa said CTX realizes students have to buy textbooks, so they try to set all the prices at least $3.00 less then the industry price.
According to a CTX price list, a new copy of World Regional Geography, which is used for Geography 1001 classes, cost $85.00.
This same book cost $88.00 new and $66.00 used at the Union bookstore, and it costs $87.75 for a new copy and $65.85 for a used copy at Co-Op bookstore.
The same textbook cost $70.75 at half.com, which is part of eBay.
It is easier for other stores to have cheaper prices, Bender said. Unlike those bookstores, the University store must have enough textbooks for every student registered in a course.
“At some point, the other bookstores can tell students they have stopped ordering books,” Bender said. “We can’t do that.”
He said upper-level foreign language books are more expensive because the books are ordered from other countries, and the Union bookstore must pay shipping and handling fees.
Bender also said the bookstore has offered special promotions for students to sell their books to the Union bookstore.
He said the bookstore sponsored “Price Matching Plus” — a promotion in which the Union bookstore would match the lower price of a competing store.
Bender said the bookstore stopped promoting “Price Matching Plus” because customers did not take advantage of the promotion.
He said another promotion offered students who sold back at least $75 worth of books a chance to win a $200 voucher for textbooks.
Like CTX and Co-Op, Bender said the Union bookstore offers up to a 50 percent refund for books that will be reused.
He said professors and publishing companies decide whether a book is eligible to reuse.
Bender said the amount of money offered for textbooks depends if the the book will be used for the next semester.
Bender said he prefers to have used books because the store will have lower prices.
Some students have not been swayed by the bookstores’ attempts to lower prices.
Brandy Pfister, a biological engineering senior, said between shopping at College Supply Company, Co-Op, and CTX, prices tend to be from $3.00 to $25.00 cheaper than the Union bookstore.
Muhammed Legari, an ISDS senior, said since he started working for the Union bookstore three years ago, he has not noticed a drop in textbook sales.
Legari also said the bookstore still orders the same amount of textbooks and has started selling books online.
Bender said offering online services to students was necessary.
“That is were the students are going,” Bender said. “We really have to offer the service as well.”
Bender said the online service is good for students who do not have time to stand in lines during the first few days of school.
He said it is hard for the bookstore to compete with Internet sites offering textbook deals for students.
Union bookstore employee Danelle Whittington, a psychology sophomore, said despite her 30 percent employee discount, she buys some of her books online.
Whittington said she bought her art textbook at half.com for $25.00, a price that included shipping and handling fees.
She said the book was $166.00 at the Union bookstore.