As a student, I feel very constricted when the time comes to purchase textbooks for my classes. In Geneseo, Sundance Books has been the exclusive provider to our college community for more than 30 years.
For me, I was one of the countless people who waited in the agonizingly long lines to pay sky-high prices. Even if one pre-orders their books, they are still stuck in these never-ending lines. This made me wonder why there weren't any other options to get the books I needed. Consequently, I explored other ways of finding a deal, and looked to the Internet.
Unfortunately, when I went to Sundance over the summer, they wouldn't provide the names or the prices of the books to me unless I bought them there. If they are the only store in the area selling this necessity, why are they monopolizing students to only purchase from them?
Obviously, I understand that for business reasons, it would be impractical to give me this data, but as a student already overloaded with other fees, I looked to find alternate options to reduce my expenses.
A few e-mails and phone calls to my future professors later, and I was able to cut my costs drastically. Ordering books online allowed me to find bargains through a variety of Web sites. Another great feature was the opportunity to check out a few titles I needed through the IDS service of Milne Library. My total bill for this semester was a mere $93.
The typical student doesn't have to shell out hundreds of dollars for books they'll only use for a short time. There are alternative options for other students in this situation, and we don't have to rely on this one store for all of our needs.
Jordan Daniel