University has reason to be by the book

Tomorrow is the last day to drop or add classes. It is not, however, the last day to return unwanted textbooks to USC’s bookstore — that was one week ago.

This means that in the last  seven days, students could have added a class, purchased books for said class and then dropped the class, leaving them out some hundreds of dollars for nonrefundable textbooks.

Unfortunately for the enraged masses of students — and there are many — who feel the bookstore tricked them into buying exorbitantly overpriced textbooks and then forced them to shove Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades into the closet when they realized MUSC 499 wasn’t a major requirement, the bookstore actually has a reason for this policy.

USC students love to complain about (often legitimate) instances of the university ripping off its students. ($18.95 for a paperback that can be read in three and a half trips to the bathroom? $5 for hummus?)

But institutional machinations aren’t always so black and white. Case in point: The bookstore is not trying to steal our money.

Not that it doesn’t need it. As with many university bookstores in the country, textbook sales at USC’s Pertusati Bookstore are suffering because of online competitors.

Of course, the downside of shopping online is waiting for the merchandise to come; that’s where the bookstore’s policy comes into play.

Bookstore manager Raymond McDermott pointed out that many students try to game the system, at cost to the university.

“We had too many people abusing the system — buying books and then ordering from someplace else and then returning them, which then creates artificial shortages for students here who want to purchase them, and it was increasing our cost,” McDermott said. “That’s why we have the one week with receipt [refund policy].”

It’s hard to begrudge what is clearly the underdog in the college textbook arena, but the bookstore’s policy still technically precludes the honest section of the student body — those who dropped a class and need to unload unnecessary purchases.

But McDermott said there is often wiggle room for students who can prove they dropped a class.

“We make exceptions to the refund policy after [the refund date] for people who dropped,” he said. “Because, after the first week really, the only reason why you should be returning a book is if you dropped a class in the first place.”

And yet, every year, students gripe about an unfair policy.

The first step the bookstore can take in clearing its name is making its exceptions to the rule better known to students when they buy their books — something McDermott said he is considering implementing for next semester.

He said a reworded policy would clarify that if students drop a class, “they can still do a refund, with proof that they dropped the class and their register receipt, until the last day of drop and add.”

In a time when the bookstore has been hit as hard economically as its students, we’re not going to see lowered prices, and USC is not the only university grappling with how to deal with the encroaching menace of online options.

Hopefully with a better delineated policy, students can take advantage of the option to return their books up until registration closes. What students face, McDermott said, “is an industry trend. Something that regrettably stores have to do to survive.”

Lucy Mueller is a senior majoring in cinema-television production.