Purchasing textbooks from overseas distributors has been called unethical by some entities, namely those affiliated with the National Association of College Stores(NACS). NACS is currently pressuring publishers to do something about the “problem” of reimportation of textbooks originally sold by American publishers to foreign markets. This potential of a global textbook market for students as well as for the larger companies is alarming to college stores. They rely heavily on the guarantee that they are often times either the only guy in town or one of a few meeting the demand, especially in smaller college towns like Portland Their safety net of being the sole or dual provider of texts is slowly dissipating. The market has expanded overseas and for the student that’s not a bad thing.
With the introduction of the highly controversial NAFTA agreement the global marketplace opened up, much to the dismay of many Americans who viewed this move as disastrous to the job market. The newest buzz in the global marketplace is the increase of outsourcing which is generally unpopular, especially among the unemployed. Reimportation of textbooks from foreign markets is just another element in the global marketplace and college stores will most likely find little success in trying to slow down this leakage in their monopoly.
Publishers already sell textbooks overseas at greatly reduced prices compared to American prices. They claim this practice spreads out the cost of producing their materials and in actuality allows for them to offer cheaper rates than they might if there were no overseas textbook markets. Logic dictates that if they’re offering foreign companies cheaper rates that we’re probably the suckers picking up the extra cost.
Savvy students have already clued into the savings available at online sites like half.com which offer incredible discounts.
The introduction of these online sales can only improve the market for the consumer. NACS is threatened by the reimportation practice and blames The American Association of Publishers which represents eight of the largest publishers in the country for allowing this to continue. These two organizations could not function without each other and it is in the AAP’s best interest to work cooperatively to resolve this dispute.
If the AAP refuses to work with NACS they (NACS) could do something crazy like go on strike and refuse to sell books, and then the entire market would be jammed. The sales reps couldn’t sell their newest product because stores wouldn’t be placing orders. Publishers wouldn’t be making any profit because their one venue for performing is closed up and even the poor wholesalers who don’t have much say about the situation would be sitting in their warehouses on their stacks of used books just hoping the whole mess gets resolved soon.
Publishers have no choice but to negotiate with NACS to craft a mutually beneficial policy. This new policy would hopefully reduce prices to American stores to come closer to matching the foreign market. This would appease NACS because it would help ensure their customer base doesn’t disappear overseas and benefit student’s who would have access to more affordable textbooks right on campus. So buy from foreign distributors, it may be the only way to convince publishers their prices in the American market are unacceptable.
Christy McKinnon can be contacted at [email protected].