Fall 2009 Textbook Return Policy
Before you purchase any books, be certain you know what books you need before you buy them.
1. All books or course materials returns are for store credit only (Panther Rewards Gift Card). No cash or credit card credits will be allowed. You must have your itemized cash register sale receipt.
2. You have until Friday September 11, 2009 at 5:00 pm to return a book for any reason for store credit only.
3. All books bought after September 11, 2009 are non returnable, but we may offer you a partial return value for store credit only, depending on the title, and when it is returned.
4. We may allow a book return for store credit only from September 12 - October 9, 2009 only if you can verify that you have dropped the course. You must have your itemized cash register sale receipt. You will need to provide us your original schedule showing you were originally enrolled in the class, and we will confirm online your current status. You must return your books within two days of dropping a class to qualify for store credit.
5. Books must be returned in the same condition they were purchased. New books must be returned in new condition without wear or marks of any kind. CD’s or shrink wrapped packages cannot be returned if opened.
Why Did We Change Our Book Return Policy?
We changed our return policy to store credit only for six major reasons:
1. It was harming other Middlebury students financially.
2. It was harming our ability to control textbook costs.
3. It was harming Middlebury College financially.
4. It was harming the environment and leading the College away from carbon neutrality.
5. We introduced a Rewards Program where students can earn up to 5% back on purchases.
6. We reduced our selling margin further on books that cost the Bookstore over $100 cost.
1. It was harming other Middlebury students financially. Given our limited supply of used books, our old return policy was causing widespread abuse and financial harm to students. Many students were borrowing our used books for a week, going online, and returning those books they found cheaper later in the week. It became increasing unfair to those students who want to buy a used book from us to have to buy a new book, because another student bought it earlier in the day or week for the purpose to shop us online, only to return the used book later in the week after our chances to sell it to that other student has passed. Used books are priced 25% less than the new book price.
We had a 30% reduction in book returns this fall as a result of the new policy, and we believe it would have been even higher if more students would have read our policy that was widely and repeatedly publicly made available before they bought their books. It turned out that the majority of students who had dropped a class and returned books also added another class and had to purchase other books, so the difference in most cases was on average a break even situation financially.
2. It was harming our ability to control textbook costs. We cannot lower the cost of buying from the Bookstore when students are borrowing books from us, given the rising cost of transportation, the cost of putting a book on our shelf, and the cost of returning unsold copies to the publisher of those books borrowed from us.
3. It was harming Middlebury College financially. All net revenue from the Bookstore goes to reduce the cost of education at Middlebury. The real cost of a Middlebury education is really $80,000+ per student per year, while the College is charging 49,000+ per student per year, any revenue delivered to the College from the Bookstore helps offset the costs of the College. Any revenue not delivered to the College by the Bookstore means the College must find other ways to subsidize the difference between actual cost of education at Middlebury and what they are actually charging students.
4. It was harming the environment and leading the College away from carbon neutrality. Excessive returns were increasing the carbon footprint of the College, because it increased the amount of shipping needed to stock and do returns by the Bookstore. Given the rising cost of fuel, thus transportation, we cannot continue to allow a widespread abusive practice of borrowing our books by students. We cannot continue to afford the cost associated with bringing books into stock, stocking, and then returning those that did not sell, because of a wide spread abusive practice of students borrowing our books.
5. We introduced a Rewards Program for the purpose of delivering more value back to students. For those students who actually buy from us, a student can earn up to 5% back on their purchases, or earn up to 5% back immediately by purchasing their rewards up-front. In order to afford this new 5% benefit we had to take steps on the cost end by changing our return policy. To date, it is the single biggest transfer of wealth back to students in the history of the Middlebury College Bookstore.
6. We reduced our selling margin further on books that cost the Bookstore over $100 cost.
Summary:
Our goal is to return more value back to students, and to have as many used books available to the students who will use them for the entire class. When students purchase a used book to hold them over until a book from another source is found, class shop, experience for whatever reason class uncertainty, and then return our book, the result will be a higher priced book for another student, additional costs to the College, and a larger carbon footprint. Over time our policy is designed to reduce the average cost of books per student. The recent policy change is more about fairness between students, and creating benefits by lowering the cost to the majority of students. We recommend that you do not buy any book until you know for certain you need it.
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