Keeping the bookstore an in-house operation on campus helps keep some prices lower for students.
If the bookstore used a private company to manage it, the prices of books would likely go up, said Jeff Nelson, director of the University bookstore.
Although the University bookstore operates independently now, it has considered outsourcing to a private company.
“[Outsourcing] is always a consideration,” Nelson said. “It’s something we’ve even talked about recently, because we always want to be able to do the best job for the students.”
The bookstore decided to remain in the hands of the University because it can do everything a private company could do and can make internal changes more quickly, Nelson said.
The online Price Comparison is an example of a quick change the bookstore made.
“We looked at it internally within one semester and implemented it,” Nelson said.
The Price Comparison tool looks for the prices of books online and displays them on MyBGSU under the book list on the student’s class schedule, Nelson said.
Sadia Azmi, a senior, used to use the price comparison tool a lot, she said.
“If the price comparison showed a little bit of a difference I would just buy it here,” Azmi said.
Now, Azmi buys her books online instead of at the bookstore.
“I usually buy online because it’s definitely a cheaper deal,” she said.
Taylor Shannon, a junior, wasn’t initially aware the Price Comparison tool existed on MyBGSU. She said the option to compare prices through the bookstore would be very helpful.
Shannon waits until she gets the syllabus to get her books, she said.
“I don’t even bother looking at the bookstore because I know it’s going to be expensive,” Shannon said.
The student perception of bookstore prices was part of the reason it decided to begin using the price comparison two or three years ago, Nelson said.
“The perception was we were always going to be the highest price no matter what,” Nelson said. “The price comparison is more transparent.”
Nelson said he has heard that students like the price comparison and that it’s convenient.
The way the bookstore purchases books is also different than if it were operated by a private company. The University bookstore gets its books from a few different sources, Nelson said.
“We try to get as many copies as we can from the lowest possible price to the student,” Nelson said.
The bookstore buys books either back from students, from the book publishers or from used book wholesalers.
“The first place we look is from buyback. If we have a choice between paying students money and paying someone else we would rather give the students money,” Nelson said. “It’s a win-win-win. It’s a win for us because we don’t have to pay shipping, it’s a win for the student because they get the X amount for the buyback and it’s a win for the student buying the book because it’s as a used book or a rental.”
The bookstore rarely gets 100 percent of the books it needs from buybacks, so after that it goes to used book sellers, Nelson said.
“We go to many different publishers, not just one because we want to get the best cost we can,” he said.
If the bookstore was privately owned, the company would probably use fewer sources for used books, Nelson said.
The major difference between the University operating the bookstore and another company doing it is where the profit goes, Nelson said.
The profit of the bookstore is all reinvested in the University, Nelson said.
There are two ways people look at outsourcing, Nelson said. They look at it for the bottom line or for the kind of management that can best serve the students and the campus, he said.
“We’re in the middle. We still have a lot of value we add as far as managing transactions,” Nelson said. “It’s a tricky and complicated business, it always has been.”
