The Hornet Bookstore screws students twice, first when they buytheir books and again when they sell them back. The optimistconcedes to being screwed only once, seeing the buying and sellingas one big swindle.

Certainly nobody thinks the bookstore’s monopolisticpractices are fair. Those who do should have their headschecked.

Every semester we spend a fortune on books that can be foundelsewhere for a fraction of the price. And every semester, we bitchand complain.

Well, there is much to complain about. Textbooks fetch anywherefrom $60 to $150 or more. Coupling these high prices with the sheervolume of books we have to buy puts a colossal dent in ourpocketbooks.

At semester’s end we look forward to getting back somespending money. We hope for enough to buy a few holiday gifts inthe winter or a fresh pair of shades in the summer. Inevitabledisappointment awaits.

Thirty dollars? But it cost $85. Twenty-five cents? Whybother?

The bookstore’s buyback policy seems designed to maximizeprofits. According to their Web site, students can get back up to50 percent of the retail price for textbooks depending oninventory, condition and whether the title has been readopted forthe next term. They pay 30 percent or higher for paperbacks.Overstocked books or those not used on campus go for wholesaleprices, which is between 10 and 30 percent of retail price.

This is nothing less than an economic travesty, especially forfinancially-strapped college students. The CSUS Foundation, theorganization through which the bookstore is run, must be reapinghuge profits. I wonder where all that money is going.

Well, it’s time to stop whining and put some thoughtfulconsideration into viable alternatives.

Intuitively, there ought to be strong local competitors nearbyto bring book prices down. However, we would have to abandon thecampus bookstore in droves to create enough demand to attract localbusinesses.

How about a swap meet where students set the price? With enoughstudent support, we could compel ASI to sponsor such a program. Theswap meet could be held in the University Union during the firstweek of classes when we all know what we’ll be taking.

A preset price, which is higher than the bookstore’sbuyback amount and less then their selling price, is quoted foreach book. Each student’s total is redeemed in cash or swapmeet credit. Books are organized in the same fashion as the HornetBookstore.

This would be highly advantageous to students because we wouldget more when we sell our books and pay less when we buy them. Allwe have to do is cut out that greedy middleman.

A similar operation could be run on the Internet. An ASIsponsored Web site could provide a forum for us to advertise whatbooks we want to sell or buy. We would then contact each other toset a price and venue of exchange.

You may be asking, “How will we know if books will be usedagain?”

Well, we need the support of Sacramento State professors toreport to the program about course material they plan to use thesame way they do in the current bookstore system.

Getting such a program up and running is guaranteed to take agreat amount of effort on our part. It will be a long and hard slogthrough much bureaucratic red tape not to mention a whole lot ofadministrative opposition.

But don’t think of it that way. Instead, try to see it asthe liberation of your wallet.

In the meantime, heed the advice of a Nov. 7 article in theSacramento Bee and buy your books from overseas online booksellers.Web sites such as BookCentral.com and Amazon.co.uk offer titles forhalf the price you’ll find in the states, and that’safter shipping.

Is a book-swap a novel idea? Send comments to

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