Book Rental
Last week, UT Arlington announced a trial program allowing students to rent textbooks by the semester.
“What a Sustainable and very Green concept,” I thought to myself. I went on to read that 325 titles will be offered, which is 20% of the bookstore’s available titles. Impressive.
Students can mark in the book, but they will pay the full price if there are missing pages or excessive damage. I had imagined that students would not be allowed to highlight passages of text, thus defeating some learner’s ability to process information. So, I am still impressed.
This program protects students from risking “buyback ineligibility” (in ability to sell the book back due to a new edition) and the bookstore director anticipates that the used texts will be circulated to other universities. Good for People, good for the Planet…
And the cost of renting a book is 42.5% of the purchase price. So, $42.50 for a $100 book? Good for the Profit side of things, too!
My final thought as I was reading this brief article was about the small businesses I work with. I wonder what unique programs these varied companies might be able to develop that could positively impact their employees or customers; positively contribute to our world and save some money.
UT Arlington obviously put some people in a box and challenged them to think their way out of it! What boxed way of thinking are you trapped in?
