Textbook Bundling & Customization: Is There Value?

Testimonials

The following are excerpts from actual correspondence between university professors and bookstore managers.

From (bookstore manager)
To: (professor)

Hi ______,

I received your book order for Garrison-Managerial Accounting, and noticed that this is a "new package" than from the Fall. Would you be able to let me know what is in the package that makes it different from the Fall?

As you are well aware, publishers have gone to "bundling" all sorts of things with a textbook in order to sell new textbooks. This "bundling" has reached such proportions that we are now checking with faculty to make sure that the "incidentals" are really required, or are they "niceties" that prevent students from buying and selling used textbooks.

For example, we were able to sell the USED package of Managerial Accounting in the Fall for $78, and had planned on buying them back from the students for around $50. If they cannot use a secondhand book, then they will probably be paying more than $100 in the Spring for a new "package." We will buy back used copies for around $25 and send them to a used book wholesaler. We have done some research and surveying students on book pricing, and more than 30% of students have said that they no longer buy all their "required" books because of the price. They don't perceive the value in paying over a hundred dollars for a book packaged with "incidentals" that they don't need, and they either do without, or share with another student. This is hardly beneficial to a students education.

I in no way want to influence textbook decisions, and if everything in the "package" is truly required, then we will most certainly order it. But we are concerned about book prices increasing by 40% over the past 4 years, much of it due to extras in a "bundle."

Thanks for your time, and I look forward to your reply.
______,
Manager ______ Bookstore

From: (professor)
To: (bookstore manager)
In response to above:

______,

The package that they bought this semester (and last semester) is fine. Whatever is extra in the new book would not be necessary. I did not think about the used books, etc. I think there was some new "topic tackler" or something in the latest edition.

What we need is the text and the Student Lecture Aid. The text came with some Internet access. The package we had last semester will be fine. I hope this doesn't confuse everyone. If you have a question, please give me a call on Monday. I will be in my office from 9 to 2:15.

Thanks,
______