Readers react to a column by Evergreen columnist Alysen Boston, in which she compares the prices of the WSU Bookie to alternative sellers, namely Amazon and eBay’s Half.com. These sellers also provide buy back opportunities in the form of gift cards and cash. Boston encouraged students to check for better deals outside the student bookstore and talk to other students to find out how often their professors use required materials.

Read the full column here.

Dan Young: “And isn’t the Bookie supposed to be owned by the students? The textbook industry in the USA is rigged. Notice you can’t buy paperback versions of the book? Yet overseas you can! …. Maybe it’s time for the students to take back their book store.”

Christine Mier: “The same thing goes on at the community colleges. This isn’t just a Bookie thing. It’s a big corporation thing. It’s sure convenient having a bookstore on campus, though, isn’t it.”

Becca Jones: “The worst part is they know they can scam freshman or new incoming students. Even professors believe the prices are outrageous.”

Jim Drinkwine: “Well. BN (Barnes & Noble) is a profit business… What’s the expectation when a private, for-profit business replaces a cooperative?”

Hannah Roach: “What really wrecks my wallet is the custom edition books with homework access codes. They cost a fortune and there’s no point in buying the code separately because it costs just as much as the bundle. Gah!”

Editor’s note: The comments used in reader reactions are selected from public responses to stories on The Daily Evergreen’s Facebook page. The names listed with the comments are those provided as the individual’s identity on Facebook.