Thursday, July 26, 2012

Globalization and textbooks?

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I must say I have been pretty proud over the years of how I have managed to drastically cut the total cost of the textbooks needed for my high school son. It takes, patience and web research, but I always end up spending less than 50% of the total price of his entire book list, sometimes up to 75%, (I have not kept the exact data).  Oh, and I have always managed to buy “new” books from “used book sellers.”  However, today I was thrown for a loop and now wonder if in my quest to save money I am being environmentally unfriendly? Last week I purchased a Calculus book from Barnes & Nobel marketplace. The list price for this new book is $87.45 and I paid $47.32 plus 3.99 for standard shipping. When I came home yesterday and found a DHL Express sticker on my door indicating I had missed a delivery, I pondered a bit……. This book was the only thing I had ordered this week; why DHL express, I paid for standard shipping? Well the book showed up today (brand new, sealed and delivered!) in its express packaging and I noticed that it had been shipped from India. I checked my email confirmation directly from B&N which indicated that the vendor was from Florida and was being sent from there, Palm Bay, to be exact. So now I sit here and wonder, how and why did this new calculus book travel across the world and back? It is brand new and says “Printed in the United States” on the copyright page; and why was I told that it came from Florida? I would love to track the life of this traveling book….  So many questions, has the price of traveling the world and back already surpassed the price of the book? Should there be full disclosure on where B&N vendors get their products…. Not sure what else to think, and wonder how often this happens.

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