Book store alternative flourishes at Stanford

By Sheela V. Pai

It must be in the California water. Last fall, Stanford students organized to fight the U.S. News rankings which judged Yale to be the top school in the country. Soon after, in response to the age-old complaint that students pay too much for textbooks, a group of Stanford students founded SMOC, Stop Monopolies on Campus.

SMOC was foun-ded by Stanford senior Daniel Bram-zon as a result of his dissatisfaction with the exorbitant prices at the Stanford Bookstore, Stanford's only textbook outlet. "It was just a pent up frustration from three years [of high prices]," he said. Bramzon stated in a press release, "The Bookstore charges too much for everything: textbooks, trade books, clothes, supplies--everything. Every student knows it and every student hates it."

The group decided to create a cyber-textbook market on the Internet by compiling a list of buyers and posting it on the site, while buyers could sign on another list to make purchases.

The site has greatly expanded since, joining forces with the student-run Virtual Directory to create an automated Internet Bookmarket and with the Stanford Store, a student-run clothing store. The profits will be put towards other student services.

Due to the Stanford Store's guarantee to buy used textbooks at 10 percent more than the Bookstore and sell them at 10 percent less than the Bookstore, many Stanford students are pleased with SMOC as an alternative textbook outlet. Stanford freshman Monica Draghici commented, "We get less than 50 percent for our used books at the Bookstore.... I spend hundreds of dollars every single quarter, so this is a good alternative."

Yale's own version of SMOC, The Used Books Agency (TUBA) has not encountered as much success. Operating from the basement of Hendrie Hall, TUBA buys back books on consignment, meaning that, while used books will be collected towards the end of one semester, the seller doesn't get paid immediately; the seller must wait until the books are sold to receive a return.

The advantage, however, according to TUBA organizer Andrew Hui, MC '97, is that the seller retains more control over the selling process. "[Sellers] get the discretion to set their own prices and they usually get more money back," he said. This is in contrast to the Yale Co-op's policy that while the seller will receive cash right away, he will also receive only 25 percent of the original price of the book.

Draghici put forth her support for the formation of organizations similar to SMOC at other schools. "If [Yale students] are getting as ripped off as [Stanford students] are, they should go the way we did," she said. Back to News...