A necessary evil

Two gift cards and $157 later... all but one of my
required texts for next semester

I bought my books for next semester today. It wasn't so bad--at least in terms of crowding. In the week right before fall semester the bookstore is packed with people, at least half of whom are parents dragging around their angsty freshman kids. ("But the dorms are full of preemie guys, Mom! If I live there I'll never get married by the end of the semester!") The week before winter semester is much better. Everyone is still out of town except for the few of us who live in the area and/or work on campus. Nice.

The books, on the other hand, cost a pretty penny. Today I almost spent $217 on five textbooks, four of which are smaller than your average novel. I say "almost" because I used two gift cards to get the total down to $157 (shout out to Mom, who gave me one for my birthday, and the Multicultural office, which gave me one for Christmas). For the record, the bookstore itself doesn't get much of a cut from its profits, or even much of a say in pricing. I guess it's nice to know the nice cashier who rang me up and her boss weren't trying to rob me, even if I did spend half my paycheck on textbooks.

For your information/entertainment, here's a list of all the different methods of book-buying I have tried during my three years of college.

Method 1: Divide and Conquer (Winter 2006)
You sign up for the same classes as your live-at-home sibling, and split the cost of the books and share them, swapping them in the hall between classes. Note: this only works as long as both of you are living at home, and only if you're taking general ed classes.

Method 2: Cowboy Up (Fall 2006)
You go to Beat the Bookstore, the private college textbook store across the street from the school. Once you have realized they don't carry the books you need, it's time to cinch up your belt, walk into the bookstore, and buy your books there.

Method 3: Freeloader (Winter 2007)
You're too broke to buy one of your textbooks. Instead, every time you have a reading assignment you check the book out from the campus library and do your reading right then (since they only give you an hour or so) and there (since you can't take the book out of the library).

Method 4: Class Reduction (Fall 2007)
Fewer classes=fewer books. This isn't a good reason to lighten your class load (it wasn't my reason, anyway) and sadly, it can't guarantee that you'll find your books at Beat the Bookstore (which you've stopped believing in) or that you'll have a better experience at the bookstore.

Method 5: New Age (Winter 2008-Fall 2008)
You buy most, if not all, of your textbooks on Amazon and Half.com. This makes you feel like a bargain shopper, even if you're always crossing your fingers that your books will make it to your doorstep before your professor gives you a huge assignment involving the book.

Method 6: Coming to Terms (Winter 2009)
Right after you tell your roommate about the New Age method, he points out that more often than not the cost of shipping books from Amazon makes the online purchase just about as costly as the one you'll make in the bookstore. You reluctantly cowboy up, but still decide to see if you can get the $82-used book for less online.