Stacking up

Textbooks at the Associated Students of UCLA-run bookstore may
seem overpriced to students, but the average markup for books at
UCLA is actually lower than many other UCs when no recommended
price is listed by the publisher.

Officials of UCLA and three other UCs say the university
bookstores typically price books at the publisher’s list
price when it is available, and mark up the remaining books by a
predetermined percentage.

At UCLA, this percentage, called the gross margin, is 20 to 22
percent, said Neil Yamaguchi, academic support director for the
ASUCLA bookstore.

At UC Davis, the markup is a uniform 22 percent, agreed upon by
the board of students and staff that set bookstore policies.

UC Santa Cruz uses 10-25 percent on a title by title basis. Less
expensive books are marked up more, while more expensive books are
marked up less.

UC San Diego uses a 25 percent markup, but discounts 10 percent
from its most available paperbacks.

Compared to the other campuses, UCLA’s lower markup
percentage does not necessarily mean UCLA students pay less for
their books.

Yamaguchi explained that books without a list price make up only
20 percent of the books that UCLA orders.

But it does mean that UCLA is marking up its textbooks less than
some other UCs when it has the power to name its prices.

Yamaguchi said the factors that affect how UCLA prices books are
publishers and the volume of books ordered.

Different discounts are associated with different publishers and
higher discounts are typically given when more books are ordered,
he explained.

“We have no control over that,” Yamaguchi said,
regarding the role of the UCLA bookstore to fulfill the
campus’s need for books. “It’s all predicated on
what instructors want us to carry, so we do our best to account for
that.”

Though the UCLA bookstore provides the service of making books
available on campus, it must continue to offer competitive prices
in order to compete with online stores and to best serve the
students.

New programs such as the Bruin Advantage series have the
benefits of both students and the store in mind.

The Bruin Advantage series is a new program at the bookstore in
which titles are sold at 20-25 percent below publisher retail price
through negotiations with publishers on a title by title basis.

“You hope because you have lower pricing you’re
going to have better sales because you’re more competitive
now,” Yamaguchi said about the bookstore.

ASUCLA is researching new ways to save students money on books,
such as considering a book rental program detailed in a state bill
passed last May.

Bob Williams, the Interim Executive Director of the ASUCLA Board
of Directors, said the board was aggressively looking into the
program’s logistics.

“We have not yet found a way to do it in a cost-effective
manner, but I assure you when we do, ASUCLA will be one of first to
try to implement it,” he said.

He added that buying used books is still the best option for
students.

“We really are very aggressive in pursuing buyback,
because (buying) used books is the best way for students to save
money,” he said.

UC bookstores across the board say they are aggressively
pursuing lower prices from publishers in order to pass on savings
to students.

John Turk, the director of the UC San Diego bookstore, said
their store tries to negotiate with publishers to get lower prices
and pass the cost savings on to students. This program is
comparable to Bruin Advantage at UCLA.

The store is frequently successful, and out of the 2300 titles
carried about 500 are discounted in this way.

“Providing textbooks is our core mission, and we try to
provide them at the lowest cost possible,” he said.

Another way UC San Diego helps save students money is by
automatically discounting trade paperbacks, books which are sold at
most bookstores, by 10 percent off the list price ““ something
that UCLA does not do. This discount helps the store compete with
other stores like Amazon.com.

Turk said these books otherwise provide a 40 percent gross
margin, but due to the discount, the number at their store drops to
30 percent.

Yamaguchi said if the store decided to lower prices of any kind
of textbook, it would have to be an organizational decision keeping
the financial impact to the whole organization in mind.

The student union, restaurants and student services all have a
role in ASUCLA’s financial situation.

Such decisions are typically handled by the ASUCLA board of
directors, since the bookstore is connected to ASUCLA’s other
functions.

“The thing to remember is that money brought in (to
ASUCLA) goes back into the functioning of the student union and
student programming,” Williams said.

He added that students should realize that by buying books they
are supporting the student union, because the money made goes back
into student services.

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