Today I went to get a book for a programming language class. For some obscure reason, all the books and course materials (custom paper binding booklets made by professors) cost about twice as much as the other books.
I picked out one of the books that had a “USED” sticker on the back of it. I thought this might be cheaper. It was cheaper — $5 off a $80 book. And if you sell this book back to the bookstore, you get $20-30 for it. If the bookstore keeps on doing this scandalous business, it gets $60 for each book — pure profit. Where oh where is the justice.
http://3e-lab.com/blog/09/01/school/amazon-plugin-for-blackboard/
book stores are always going to be organizations run by idiots that run as smooth as most government agencies.
If you do your homework, you can browse on amazon and get books for a lower price than what your book store is buying them back at.
Really students need to realize they can get all of their books on amazon. The teachers should cut the publishers out of the loop and sell their books via some online shape or form.