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Message
re: Are college textbooks still a massive scam?
Posted on 10/30/23 at 11:16 am to SulphursFinest
Posted on 10/30/23 at 11:16 am to SulphursFinest
quote:
Yes. At ULL I had to buy a textbook that the professor wrote himself. Said everyone had to buy it and tear off attendance sheets in the back to turn in every day.
My wife and I had the same class, and he said I had to buy two textbooks and we couldn’t share.
Let me guess. He did an updated edition every year so people couldnt get used textbooks.
0
Posted on 10/30/23 at 11:19 am to Thundercles
quote:
Are college textbooks still a massive scam?
Yes, along with about 90% of the other crap they make you pay for in college.
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:10 pm to Thundercles
Back in my days I could not wait to sale my textbooks back in to make some much needed side money
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:13 pm to Thundercles
Now this is back in the late 80's but we had the guy who wrote one of our textbooks come speak to our class, when he saw the price on the book he was taken very much aback and said he was going to have to talk to someone as it was much more than he was told the book was going to sell for.
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:16 pm to SulphursFinest
quote:
to buy a textbook that the professor wrote himself.
If that’s not conflict of interest, I don’t know what is
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:20 pm to Thundercles
I'll never forget them charging me 70 bucks for my algebra book that was a stack of papers with the holes punched out that you had to provide your own binder for
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:41 pm to Thundercles
They are if you buy them from the school's bookstore. I bought every book I could from online retailers that carried international editions. A book the school wanted $300 for I could get the international version of for $50 shipped. On top of that, local bookstores would buy international versions at 75% of their value (sometimes 100%) while the school only buys back at 50%. I've kept most of my engineering and math textbooks, easily saved a few thousand dollars buying through Abe Books. Now it's subsription services and online PDF's.
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:43 pm to Tiger Ugly
quote:
when he saw the price on the book he was taken very much aback and said he was going to have to talk to someone as it was much more than he was told the book was going to sell for.
Probably realized he wasn't getting much for his cut...
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:43 pm to Clames
I'll be interested to see if the anti-piracy group is consistent on this issue.
I fully support doing whatever you can to screw the system over. After all, they're doing it to you from the jump.
I fully support doing whatever you can to screw the system over. After all, they're doing it to you from the jump.
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:44 pm to EarlyCuyler3
quote:
I fully support doing whatever you can to screw the system over.
You're the kind of azzhole that supports shoplifting and looting.
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:45 pm to SulphursFinest
quote:
At ULL I had to buy a textbook that the professor wrote himself. Said everyone had to buy it
LINK
Had that happen to me at Alabama and the professor got arrested
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:46 pm to oogabooga68
quote:
You're the kind of azzhole that supports shoplifting and looting.
Wrong. Which is typical for you.
You're the kind of idiot that thinks forcing students to buy extremely overpriced books for a code is the "free market" at work. Moron.
This post was edited on 10/30/23 at 12:54 pm
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:50 pm to Thundercles
Some schools have where you pay a set fee for all of your books. Comes out cheaper than buying individually all new.
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:53 pm to Thundercles
Law school textbooks are the BIGGEST scam. Law is always changing, so you can never sell them back for a decent price. If you're in law school, save yourself some money and just look up every case on Westlaw or Lexis.
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:54 pm to SulphursFinest
quote:
Yes. At ULL I had to buy a textbook that the professor wrote himself. Said everyone had to buy it and tear off attendance sheets in the back to turn in every day.
My wife and I had the same class, and he said I had to buy two textbooks and we couldn’t share.
I didn’t because that’s stupid
I had a professor once that you had to buy a $300 Biology textbook as well as his supplemental that was $100.
The supplemental was literally copies of his fricking power points he showed in class where you would "fill in the blanks". Every class was him lecturing with the fill in the blank book. He made it "required" by 1/4 of your grade being the supplemental turned in at the end of the class with everything filled in.
We got smart and a group of us rotated who physically attended class throughout the week (it was a MWF) to fill in the blanks. We all passed with an A. frick that guy.
This post was edited on 10/30/23 at 12:56 pm
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:55 pm to EarlyCuyler3
quote:
I'll be interested to see if the anti-piracy group is consistent on this issue.
You are one of the last here to talk about intellectual consistency. What I did was source perfectly legitimate international editions that the publisher produces, not even close to any kind of piracy.
quote:
I fully support doing whatever you can to screw the system over.
You are basically the type that screws over individual artists too when given the opportunity.
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:58 pm to Thundercles
quote:
Not setting prices, but I'd say setting rules around how often a department requires the "new edition". If I recall, they'd go one edition up of a history or English book and slightly rearrange the material and charge an even higher price. Students couldn't buy used because the material was slightly different.
Pretty much this. How often do you really need to update the calculus book? There are core subjects whose material has *not* changed in decades or more.
This post was edited on 10/30/23 at 1:05 pm
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:59 pm to Clames
quote:
What I did was source perfectly legitimate international editions that the publisher produces, not even close to any kind of piracy.
You were just the last post I replied to. Wasn't even debating your point. Take a deep breath and relax.
Posted on 10/30/23 at 12:59 pm to DakIsNoLB
quote:
How often do you really need to update the calculus book? There are core subjects whose material has changed in decades or more.
You don't. They're exploiting a monopoly to the extreme.
Posted on 10/30/23 at 1:03 pm to HoustonGumbeauxGuy
quote:
to buy a textbook that the professor wrote himself.
If that’s not conflict of interest, I don’t know what is
Happened to me.
Economics prof named Bill Brown wrote the books himself, required for his class. His books were sold nationwide though.
He now owns a flyfishing shop.
This post was edited on 10/30/23 at 1:07 pm
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