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The graphic above shows the portion of student dollars that go to the publisher (for paper, printing, editorial costs, general/administrative expenses, marketing, author income, and publisher’s income) and the portion that goes to the typical college bookstore (for staff, freight, operations such as rent and utilities, and store income) from new textbook sales.
The total amount of each dollar going to a university bookstore adds up 24.1 cents or 24.1%, of which only 4.4 cents is income. Comparably, the total amount of each dollar going to the publisher adds up to 75.9 cents or 75.9%, of which 7 cents is income. Since professors dictate which textbooks the university store will buy, and publishers dictate how much we will pay for them, the university bookstore really has very little control over the price of textbooks. 24% is a lower margin than almost any other retail goods; it is barely enough to cover overhead costs.
Publishers sometimes sell books to us at a higher discount, and in this event Carnegie Mellon is able to pass the discounts directly on to students, by selling many of our books below list price. For example, many of the books required for English and History classes are priced anywhere from 19-25% below list price.
Throughout the past several years, Carnegie Mellon University Bookstore has been successful in greatly improving the percentage of used books on our shelves. Because students appreciate lower textbook prices, we do all that we can to acquire as many used textbooks as possible. One way that we increase our used textbook offerings is, with the help of on-time orders from professors, we are able to start reserving used stock from our 8 used textbook vendors sometimes 4 months before the start of the semester. The other way is by buying as many books as we can from students at textbook buyback. We are proud to report that in December 2008 at textbook buyback, we were able to give out more than twice as much cash to students as we did in December 2007.
Used books are typically priced at 75% of the retail price of a new textbook. At buyback, if the book is being used again at Carnegie Mellon the next semester and we have an order for it from the professor, we can pay 50% of the new price of the textbook. This means that, if you buy a used book at the beginning of the semester and sell it back at the end, throughout the semester you really only end up paying 25% of the price of the book.
Carnegie Mellon University Bookstore is an institutional store and part of the Campus Services division of Carnegie Mellon, a non-profit organization designed to serve and support Carnegie Mellon students. All income generated by the University Store is reinvested each year into programs throughout the University.
*Textbook dollar printed with permission from the National Association of College Stores.
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