Crashing The Coop

There's no such thing as healthy competition in the Cambridge book market; just ask any Harvard under-grad how much they paid, and paid and paid for books last semester that were available from only one store in the square.

More importantly, ask them how they feel about waiting in line at the double barrel Coop counters this semester to repeat the madness. I did, and the results of my impromptu poll confirmed my suspicion that students are upset with Coop prices.

"They're definitely a monopoly," Scott F. Kocher '97 said. "Their prices are so high; I'd like to know their mark-up."

Recall the last time you were at The Coop, and were mystified by the exorbitant prices of required texts.

Randomly combing the racks, several titles caught my eye as costing a lot compared to others of the same weight.

For example, Aristotle's Metaphysics Books M & N, a text that fills only 35 pages, costs $32--about a dollar a page.

Or the required sourcebook for Introduction to American Government which, according to government concentrator Novisi Atadilea '99, is a $124 rip-off.

Not to mention the three different editions of Max Weber's The Protestant Work Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, available at three different inflated prices throughout the store, the most expensive of which was required for my tutorial.

So, of course, I complained.

Coop Director Frank Montgomery explained that the Weber incident is not, as would seem obvious, The Coop's fault, but rather a product of professors' insistance that certain editions are used for their classes.

He noted that textbook prices are largely determined by the publishers and vary based on the edition and the audience to which they cater.

Coop policy is to consult Professors who have listed an expensive edition, such as the Giddens edition of Weber which goes for $37.50, and to suggest to the professor that alternative editions be made available to students, Montgomery said.

"If it seems odd to us, we'll go back to the professor," said Montgomery. "But we've learned pretty quickly that Harvard professors mean what they say."

But how much of this bantering about professors and publishers is just passing the buck?

Rather than taking Montgomery's word as truth, I decided to see if comparison shopping really paid off. It did; I purchased Weber's book at the Harvard Book Store for less than the cost of any Coop edition.

In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter whether the fault lies with professors, the publishers or the kings and queens of Coop-land.

What matters is that students blindly dish out the cash, complaining, but not really bothering to do anything about it.

After repeatedly bemoaning the Coop's sorry prices, one student retracted his criticism at the thought of rebelling against The Coop.

"I must admit I haven't comparison shopped, and I would hate to condemn the Coop before looking elsewhere," stated a member of the class of '98 who requested anonymity for fear that he might be expelled from Coop-land forever.

Others feel that it is the University's responsibility to protect them from the tyrannical monopoly.

This is why The Coop's prices continue to dumbfound us, and why the store will continue to thrive in Cambridge, along with student angst and complacency. Thank you, the manager says, herding you toward the door, and would you please form a line in front of the register.