MSU Undercovers is Closing... Claim Your Books
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As of April 30th 2010, Undercovers will no longer operate as a service of the MSU. As such, Undercovers wll no longer be able to sell books on behalf of its contract holders, or sell the books it currently has.
Book / Item Consignment Returns:
Valid Consignment contract holders should fill out the form located here, and inform Undercovers of what they would like to have done with their consignment items. Note: Contracts that have not been renewed for six months have expired, and are no longer valid.
Consignment Payouts:
Undercovers will continue to provide payouts to customers for their sold consignment items up to and including April 30th, 2010. Customers' books that have sold should have received an email from Undercovers informing them of this. After April 30th, Undercovers will no longer be able to issue consignment payouts.
Unclaimed Consignment Items and Consignment Sales:
After April 30th, 2010, any unclaimed items or consigment payout funds will become property of the MSU. You are encouraged to share this information with anyone you may know who frequents Undercovers. Students who are away from Hamilton are encouraged to contact Undercovers to make alternate arrangements.
We apologize for the invonvenience this may cause. For more information, please contact us at [email protected] ter.ca, or call the store during regular hours at 905-525-9140 x 21250.
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McMaster Marching Band President
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04-15-2010 at 08:56 PM
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#2
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MacInsiders Staff
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This is balls! I have TONS of books in that store and now have no way to pick them up.. of course I'm going to go get them but it makes it hugely complicated. Usually I just take a bus down to Hamilton if ever I go. Now I'm going to have to arrange a special trip before April 30th.. @$$.. This is a busy month too.
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04-15-2010 at 09:19 PM
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#3
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Elite Member
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Quote:
Originally Posted by temara.brown
This is balls! I have TONS of books in that store and now have no way to pick them up.. of course I'm going to go get them but it makes it hugely complicated. Usually I just take a bus down to Hamilton if ever I go. Now I'm going to have to arrange a special trip before April 30th.. @$$.. This is a busy month too.
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Any way you can have someone else pick them up for you and keep them with them in Hamilton until you do make a trip in?
Also I lol'd at tell anyone you know who frequents Undercovers. I have yet to anyone in there let alone know someone who frequents it. Can't say I was shocked to hear they were going out of business.
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-Stefanie Walsh-
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04-15-2010 at 10:55 PM
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At UWO the campus bookstore had a sell on consigment program, maybe something can be worked out here too. They have the space anyway.
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04-15-2010 at 11:34 PM
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#5
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anyone know why(I'm assuming they are losing money) they are closing, or is it just because it's a useful service, and we simply CANNOT have those here?
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04-15-2010 at 11:54 PM
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#6
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MacInsiders Staff
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sew12
Any way you can have someone else pick them up for you and keep them with them in Hamilton until you do make a trip in?
Also I lol'd at tell anyone you know who frequents Undercovers. I have yet to anyone in there let alone know someone who frequents it. Can't say I was shocked to hear they were going out of business.
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Weird.. I remember typing a bit joking about getting people to frequent it and buy my books but it's gone.. spooky.. my internet has been weird lately.
There are seriously a lot of books. I think it was about three huge and heavy boxes. It was hard for me to even carry them from in front of the student centre down to the store so I wouldn't want to ask anyone to move them. The main problem is getting a vehicle to transport them from Hamilton to my house in Cambridge.
My speculation as to why it's gone under: low traffic and sales, low-ish commission on each book (only 20%), high staffing and rental costs, lots of competition (aka there are many other ways to dump your old books, some are more speedy and take no commission), and probably no signs of improvement. I've maybe got $100 out of the stuff at the store and I've had stuff in there since it's been open (at least it de-cluttered my shelves for awhile). This means that they've only really got $25 out of all the stuff I've had there.
I know at Ryerson, the students say their consignment bookstore is the only useful thing their students union does for them beyond those insurance plans so I find it funny how it really did not work here. Although, my friend also told me how there was a computer crash and they lost all records of sales and inventory so you pretty much lost what you had if you had anything in that store. It was the one thing they had going for them and they eff'd it up majorly.. fun times. |
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04-16-2010 at 02:45 AM
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#7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by adrian
anyone know why(I'm assuming they are losing money) they are closing, or is it just because it's a useful service, and we simply CANNOT have those here?
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Was not really seeing much traffic to say the least , it will be an online service now though .
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Nashwa Khan
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04-17-2010 at 10:08 AM
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#8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sew12
Can't say I was shocked to hear they were going out of business.
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They aren't going out of business, the business model is changing. They are going 100% online, and they won't be taking up space (ie paying rent) in the MUSC anymore. For the amount of money they make, this is a good move.
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Ben Taunton
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McMaster University
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04-17-2010 at 10:48 AM
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#9
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Then what's the point, I can already sell books online through several alternatives. The whole reason for undercovers was so people didn't have to store the books themselves.
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04-17-2010 at 12:32 PM
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#10
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MacInsiders VP
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Taunton
They aren't going out of business, the business model is changing. They are going 100% online, and they won't be taking up space (ie paying rent) in the MUSC anymore. For the amount of money they make, this is a good move.
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Does this mean the model is going to be similar to what Mary said in her platform? Or I think said in her platform....what we worked on and what made the public version is all mushed up together to me now...
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04-18-2010 at 02:21 PM
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#11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lorend
Does this mean the model is going to be similar to what Mary said in her platform? Or I think said in her platform....what we worked on and what made the public version is all mushed up together to me now...
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Honestly, I'm not sure. I don't remember all the details of Mary's platform.
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Ben Taunton
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04-18-2010 at 02:22 PM
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#12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by adrian
Then what's the point, I can already sell books online through several alternatives. The whole reason for undercovers was so people didn't have to store the books themselves.
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As far as I can tell, the point was that Undercovers wasn't making enough money to justify taking up the space, however people didn't want to see it go, since it wasbeing used, even if it wasn't very heavy usage. The compromise was to put it online.
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Ben Taunton
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04-20-2010 at 10:13 PM
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#13
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Campus Store
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Titles has Extended Buyback Hours
If you are trying to avoid lugging all your books from Undercovers check to see if Titles is buying those textbooks back @ http://buyback.mcmaster.ca
There are extended hours at David Braley this week as well as the Hole in the Wall - http://titles.mcmaster.ca/text/buybackhours.htm |
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