I would like to take this opportunity to respond to the open letter that appeared in The Student Life on Friday, September 27, 2002 from Aaron Gilbert. First and foremost, I am happy that Mr. Gilbert acknowledges that textbook prices are predetermined by the publishers. It is often thought that college bookstores arbitrarily decide a textbook price. This is not the case. A major goal of ours is increasing the number of used books at Huntley. Our stock of used textbooks at Huntley has increased significantly from Fall, 2001. We purchased 22 percent more used books from wholesale textbook companies this year. That put an additional $75,000 dollars worth of used books on our shelves. Rather than sourcing our used books from only one wholesale company, we are now using four wholesale companies which accounts for the increase. Huntley is committed to providing the most used books possible. We will continue to aggressively run our textbook list through as many wholesale textbook companies as possible to continue this trend. Additionally, we will continue to work with faculty to get book orders for the coming semester as early as we can so that we can increase the amount of books that we buy from our students at half price.

In terms of our textbook refund policy. The policy is distributed to every customer in the form of a large orange bookmark with every purchase. I do not think that our policy is deceitful in any way. The policy also appears on our website (which I am happy to say was well received and used by over 400 student this year to reserve their textbooks!). The heart of the policy is this:

A full refund will be issued on all textbooks returned within the first week of classes when accompanied by a register receipt. The refund will be issued in the same manner as payment is received.

After the first week of classes, textbooks can be returned within two

days of purchase with a valid sales receipt through Saturday, October 5, 2002. The refund will be issued in the same manner as payment was received.

A full refund will be given on textbooks returned because of a schedule change or dropped class through Saturday, October 26, 2002 with a valid sales receipt and evidence of schedule change. The books must be in their original condition. The refund will be for exchange or store credit only.

The prior refund policy held the same tenants save one. In the prior policy there was a $.50 cent restocking fee per title returned. That policy was eliminated after student input was received.

Our return policy is standard among college bookstores. In fact, the majority of stores do not allow the length of time to return books for dropped classes that Huntley offers.

Our return policy is created around publishers and wholesale textbook companies return deadlines. Some publishing companies observe very short time periods for bookstores to return unsold textbooks to them for credit (bookstores only receive credit for the return of unsold books). Since the vast majority of textbooks are purchased in June and July for the Fall semester, we are forced to start our return process as early as October to ensure that we are not burdened with textbooks we cannot return. Unless these books are reused in the same edition in a future semester, the unsold, un-returnable copies become a complete loss to the bookstore. Our wholesale textbook companies allows 45 days from the start of classes for unsold used books to be returned. Because of this, we literally start pulling these books for return by October 5, 2002. It takes about a week to pull, pack and invoice unsold titles back to these wholesale textbook companies. As the policy stands today, any used book that we take back for a dropped or changed class during the week of October 21, 2002 is a potential loss to the store as it cannot be returned to the textbook wholesale company.

It is not our intention to be punitive in our refund policy for textbooks. Rather, we are working to provide as fair a policy as possible while ensuring that Huntley will of a semester.

Mr. Gilbert is correct that the policy states textbook returns for dropped or changed classes would be accepted for exchange or store credit only. I agree with Mr. Gilbert that this policy, although common practice for college bookstores, needs a second look. Therefore, Huntley will issue refunds for dropped or changed classes through October 26, 2002 as the policy states but the refunds will be issued in the same manner as payment was received. For those students that are holding store credits, they can be redeemed for a refund in the same manner as payment. I will send an e-mail to all students via the list serve to advise them of this change.

I want to thank Mr. Gilbert for taking the time to write and share his concerns. Throughout my career managing college bookstores, I often say to students and faculty members that I can only change/address those things I know about. I am happy that Mr. Gilbert brought this to my attention. There is no college bookstore manager in the country that has not been touched by on-line textbook purveyors along with school supply warehouses like Office Depot and Staples. If anything, their presence has made college bookstores look inward. There is nothing that any college bookstore has to sell except its service. Since my arrival here last January, the many changes that have taken place at Huntley have been focused on customer service. We will continue to review our practices and procedures and will make changes as necessary.

My thanks again for bringing your concerns to my attention. I invite all in our community that have a concern or a comment to do the same.

Tom Bauer
Director, Huntley Bookstore