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ASBSU defends Bookswap
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With a letter to the editor from the Bookstore Advisory committee chair Rick Gore asserting that the Bookswap program is not cost effective, Bookswap Coordinator Erin Anderson and program creator, ASBSU President Nate Peterson have gone on the defensive.
While the letter asserts that the program will not save students money due its outset cost of what Gore estimates as $5,000, Peterson says that only a minimal amount of students need to participate to see savings from the program.
Anderson explained that the high costs involved this year were to get the program going.
“The reason it’s going to cost more this year is to get some things established, and to get the program on its feet,” Anderson said.
“You’re going to have to put money in the first year, because if you don’t, it’s not going to succeed.”
The Bookswap was engineered by Peterson as an alternative to the Bookstore, allowing students to set their own prices on textbooks and sell them to each other. The goal of the Bookswap, Anderson explained in the Oct. 8 Arbiter article “Swap to compete with Bookstore,” is to “cut out the Bookstore from the purchasing of books through students.”
While neither Peterson nor Anderson expects stellar attendance, they say participating students will see a savings on their ASBSU investment (which takes less than $20 out of each full time student’s pocket) if even 3 percent (about 500 students) participate.
“We see this as growing for about three years, then leveling off,” Peterson said. “Those students who are successful (with the Bookswap) we expect to come back, and we expect new students to come.”
Peterson explained that if there were a 5 percent student body involvement, over the course of the year, the return would be an estimated $7,000 – about $2,000 more than the cost of the program, combined with Anderson’s salary.
As far as individual savings, Anderson says her program could save students $7.50 on a $30 text, and $12 on a $50 text. Just selling two books, she said, would compensate for all the money students put into ASBSU.
While 3 percent may seem a low goal, both Peterson and Anderson acknowledge a certain “loss of convenience” of participation in the Bookswap compared with the ease of the Bookstore, they say the goal is realistic and attainable.
As for the cost of operation, Peterson said simply, “We will break even on this.”
Sean C. Hayes