Originally Posted by michelle

Titles also gives upwards of $500,000 a year to the MSU.

Which is better for them then reducing book prices because they would probably be losing a lot more than that, AND it makes them look like they are helping US out. Ahh gotta love politics, even if its just book sales.

Originally Posted by manu

that source is biased

Yes, but if they were super concerned with earning money they wouldn't be advising us to not buy texts unless we really need to. Now do I know that the percentages that they state are 100% accurate? No. But I do know that if it ever got out that they were lying to students then I'm pretty sure there'd be a big stink about it. In other words, I don't think they would make up these numbers, as the minimal good effect they get would not be worth the risk.

Originally Posted by arathbon

Yes, but if they were super concerned with earning money they wouldn't be advising us to not buy texts unless we really need to. Now do I know that the percentages that they state are 100% accurate? No. But I do know that if it ever got out that they were lying to students then I'm pretty sure there'd be a big stink about it. In other words, I don't think they would make up these numbers, as the minimal good effect they get would not be worth the risk.

Ya I would have to agree with you because there are probably some legal ramifications if they were lying. BUT still...gotta love to hate the presumed gougers of our money

Copyright schmopywrite....

I have one courseware that is 50$ now it has about 15 stories in it, all of the material is available in the library, though it is in different books, how inconvenient.....

But a couple of serious questions

1.Everyone says copywrite is a large percentage of the cost, please back this up with numbers of some sort I would like to see this in some sort of official paperwork.

2.If the student Union can make them cheaper in the Underground, what is stopping them, make them, find out what needs to be in some of the custom courseware and print it on demand, or make them ahead of time.

3.Where can you get cheap photocopies in Westdale?

Originally Posted by michelle

Titles also gives upwards of $500,000 a year to the MSU.

Um. No they don't.

This is easily proven by looking at the balance statements for the MSU. With the exception of the student levy, there isn't a single revenue line with reported figures in this amount.

Creen: the problem with courseware is how much it varies course to course, semester to semester. It's impossible for the MSU to print stuff in the manner you described because of the variance.

As for the copyright issues (copyWRITE is something different altogether hahaha), there is supporting documentation floating around somewhere. I'll try to find some stuff to post up here when I get the chance.

Originally Posted by deadpool

Um. No they don't.

This is easily proven by looking at the balance statements for the MSU. With the exception of the student levy, there isn't a single revenue line with reported figures in this amount.

Sorry, I meant to say student services.

Ah kk. That makes sense.

Originally Posted by arathbon

Yes, but if they were super concerned with earning money they wouldn't be advising us to not buy texts unless we really need to. Now do I know that the percentages that they state are 100% accurate? No. But I do know that if it ever got out that they were lying to students then I'm pretty sure there'd be a big stink about it. In other words, I don't think they would make up these numbers, as the minimal good effect they get would not be worth the risk.

I think Titles started this whole "Don't blame us for expensive books! Only buy them when needed! We make them as cheap as possible! We love students!" campaign a few years ago because a lot of students (including me) stopped buying as many books. I buy very, very few books. It's amazing how much crap you don't actually have to read in my program.

Of course Titles is going to do everything that they can to make themselves look good to students. They will bend/stretch the truth if needed.

For example, the FAQs on the Buyback section of Titles say this:

"How is price determined?
The pricing formula is simple. Generally if a book is used on your home campus or at a participating store near your home campus you will receive approximately 50% of the price of the current new book price. We call that the "Home Price".If the book is being used at a campus elsewhere you will receive 30% of the current new book price. We call that the "away price". "

That makes you think you'll get 50% of what the book is selling for right now, but that's not true. I bought a book last term for $38, and Titles is offering to buy it off me for 75 cents.

Originally Posted by Kathy2

I think Titles started this whole "Don't blame us for expensive books! Only buy them when needed! We make them as cheap as possible! We love students!" campaign a few years ago because a lot of students (including me) stopped buying as many books. I buy very, very few books. It's amazing how much crap you don't actually have to read in my program.

Of course Titles is going to do everything that they can to make themselves look good to students. They will bend/stretch the truth if needed.

For example, the FAQs on the Buyback section of Titles say this:

"How is price determined?
The pricing formula is simple. Generally if a book is used on your home campus or at a participating store near your home campus you will receive approximately 50% of the price of the current new book price. We call that the "Home Price".If the book is being used at a campus elsewhere you will receive 30% of the current new book price. We call that the "away price". "

That makes you think you'll get 50% of what the book is selling for right now, but that's not true. I bought a book last term for $38, and Titles is offering to buy it off me for 75 cents.

LOOOL that's ridiculous. Also lucky you for having a book that doesn't cost between $60 to $180 :p some are even more like holy smokes haha

Although this only addresses the price side of the problem and mainstream textbooks not coursewares, although i am sure it could be technically be done. Amazon is currently working on computerized textbooks for their kindle and other ebook readers. Its supposed to cost a fraction of the price of a normal textbook because it gets to forgo the expensive colour printing process. The biggest problem they have had so far is referencing pages, they dont use page numbers of paper copy so the prof has had to figure out all the new pages. That and the high cost of the kindle, however there are other companies with cheaper ebook readers.

Originally Posted by Kathy2

That makes you think you'll get 50% of what the book is selling for right now, but that's not true. I bought a book last term for $38, and Titles is offering to buy it off me for 75 cents.

Are you sure?

I bought a Geography Textbook last year for $60 @ Undercovers and then at the end of the term Titles offered me $50 for it. The new one is $90 I think?

0.75 cents sounds too ridiculously low to be true :S

if it's something like 50 pages, can i photograph all of them and print them ????

For like a $100 book (with a crappy study guide, so let's say the book itself was $90), titles offered me $20. That doesn't sound like 50% to me.

The prices fluctuate depending on store stock. Why would they buy back a book at a high price if they know they can't sell it again?

A lot of coursewares (at least in my program) use cases that have to be individually purchased from sources such as the Harvard Business Review. These can cost up to $10 per person per case, so it's understandable how the cost rises quickly. Also, everyone always looks at the cost and says: "Well, copyright aside, it doesn't cost THAT much to print a few pages". You have to bear in mind that the custom coursewares consume paid time by staff, require facilities to produce them, and absorb various other overheads from the bookstore. I know, no one will like this concept because you'd rather think that there's always someone screwing you over, but sometimes you just need to suck it up and realize that things cost money. That's not going to change, no matter how many SRA or MSU lackeys you throw at McMaster administration.