Bookstore discount rate helps
Non-profit status shares the wealth
By RICHARD WIENS
Of the Emerald
When the University bookstore
turned into a non-profit corpora
tion giving direct discounts to stu
dents on textbook purchases,
some people worried that it might
not survive the change.
“It’s basically a unique set-up,”
says Jim Williams, Bookstore
manager for the past two years
and assistant manager before
that. “At thaftime, we weren’t at all
sure it would work.”
Such fears were unfounded,
however, since the bookstore has
thrived the past five years. Indeed,
for a non-profit organization, the
bookstore has been quite lucra
tive. Meanwhile, students have
enjoyed lower textbook prices
than most of their counterparts at
other universities.
While University students re
ceive a direct 10 percent discount
off the suggested retail price of
text, students at UCLA and the
University of California get no
discount. At the University of
Washington and Oregon State,
students receive five and 10 per
cent discounts respectively, but
only if they keep their receipts until
the end of each fiscal year. A simi
lar system was used here before
the 1973 restructuring.
The combination of high operat
ing costs, high shipping charges
and high wholesale prices makes
it impossible to sell textbooks for a
profit.
Like others, the University
bookstore offsets textbook losses
through sales of general trade
books and non-book merchan
dise. Indeed, 50 percent of the
bookstore’s total sales volume is
generated by non-text items on
which it makes about a 35 percent
profit.
Sales of non-text items have
been so successful that the book
store has consistently accumulated
excess profits. Since the book
store is a non-profit corporation de
signed to serve its members (stu
dents, faculty and staff), its goal is
to “minimize profitability,” says
Williams.
“Our goal is to have a profit
margin that will meet our ex
penses and provide for improve
ments.”
Williams says a $60-$70,000
annual net income is necessary to
meet that goal. Over the last four
years, the Bookstore has aver
aged over $98,000 in annual net
income. In fiscal year 1976-77, its
net income was $130,100.
The Bookstore’s board of direc
tors, which includes eight stu
dents and two professors, has
“worked diligently to return any
profits that are beyond our needs
to our members.” says Williams. A
recent one-day sale in which al
most all Bookstore items were
discounted 25 percent was one ef
fort to disburse excess profits.
Since there have been consis
tent excess profits for four years,
why doesn’t the Bookstore raise
the direct textbook discount for
students? Such a move would be
“premature” says Williams, who
points out that the Bookstore does
not have a secret stash of ac
cumulated profits.
What the Bookstore does have,
thanks to its recent prosperity, is a
$200,000 contingency fund in
corporate investment bonds to be
used only in an emergency. It also
has a $50,000 general savings
account.
The rest of the Bookstore’s
money is “tied up in inventory,”
says Williams. Thousands of un
sold textbooks sit in an “em
ployees only” section of the store,
waiting to be sent back to the pub
lishing company or ordered for a
future class.
Steve Girsch, associate biology
professor and a member of the
board, agrees with Williams that a
larger textbook discount is not the
best answer.
“The problem is, if we raise the
discount and then fall on lean
times, it’ll be hard to pull it away,”
he says. “It wasn’t too long ago
that the Bookstore was in the red.”
Student pay under minimum
By ANN KELLY
Of the Emerald
The Oregon Office of Education (OE) has
granted a waiver to the Oregon State System of
Higher Education (OSSHE) permitting the College
Work Study Program (CWSP) to pay student em
ployees 15 percent below the Federal minimum wage.
As of July the minimum wage is $2.65.
Since April the Oregon Student Lobby (OSL)
has petitioned against the waiver. The lobby supplied
up to 22 pages of documented reports and wage
tables which supported their position that the lower
wage paid to CWSP students is unfair and detrimen
tal to college work study’s efforts to assist financially
needy students through school.
The OSL’s stand on the waiver is supported by
the Oregon State Scholarship Commission and the
executive committee of the Oregon AFL-CIO. Both
organizations sent letters along with the OSL docu
ment.
Despite thorough and ongoing documented re
search by the OSL, the waiver presented by the
OSSHE was granted. The OE passed it without re
quiring the OSSHE to justify their request for the
waiver. Apparently the OE's reorganization efforts
did not give it time to deal with the OSL reports, says
ASUO president Ramon Herrera.
“There is something wrong if we (OSL) submit
ted 20 pages of adequate documentation supported
by the State Scholarship Commission and the Ex
ecutive Committee of the Oregon AFL-CIO and the
fact that OSSHE submitted 1 page, did not submit
any documentation at all and got the waiver," Herr
era says. “It’s crazy that it passed.”
The OSL continued to wage battle with the
waiver and through inquiry and conversation with the
Bureau of Financial Assistance, the National Student
Association/Lobby, and staff Representatives of Al
Ulman and Jim Weaver.
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Girsch would prefer the Book
store to expand, possibly adding a
student travel agency and an op
tometric office. He said a recent
survey conducted by the board
showed students most interested
in the Bookstore expanding to in
clude a record shop, a coffee bar
and a florist shop.
“In the long run, students would
benefit a lot more from expansion
than from a higher text discount,”
says Girsch.
If expansion plans are stymied,
however, Girsch would support sin
increase in the textbook discount,
possibly to 12.5 percent. He says
it is hard to predict what will hap
pen until the newly-elected board
of directors begins meeting in the
fall, but he would not be surprised
if they raise the textbook discount
in spite of expansion plans.
In addition to enjoying relatively
low textbook prices (and possibly
still lower prices to come), the
University community has the ad
vantage of a nearby alternative
bookstore, which competes har
dily with the university store. The
Id Book and Record Shop, 134
Alder St., has been syphoning off
business from the University
Bookstore since 1966. Many pro
fessors now order textbooks
through the Id, and the philosophy
department deals exclusively with
the upstart shop.
Caroline Keutzer, associate
psychology professor, orders
some textbooks through the Id
because she feels it provides fas
ter service.
“I just have to call up Ken (Rob
bins, the Id manager) and he'll get
right on it and make the phone
calls,” says Keutzer. She feels the
University Bookstore is “too big to
handle personal requests.’’
"The Id is good on emergency
orders and substitutions,” says
Frances Cogan, an English dept,
graduate fellow. “They’re good
about keeping you from being in a
lurch at the beginning of the term,
even if it’s your fault for ordering
late.”
Like the University Bookstore,
the Id offers a 10 percent discount
and loses money on textbook
sales. The school books serve to
draw students into the shop, how
ever, where they may purchase
records, art prints and general
trade books which afford the Id a
profit, according to manager Rob
bins.
Both Robbins and Williams feel
the competitive textbook situation
is healthy. Although Williams de
nies it, Robbins claims that the
University Bookstore was forced
to start offering a 10 percent dis
count in 1973 because the Id was
offering a similar discount. He also
believes the University Book
store’s recent 25 percent off
sale was patterned after a similar
Id sale.
In the spirit of competition, Wil
liams cites such improvements at
the bookstore as longer hours,
expanded inventory in all areas,
more special-ordering of books
and, beginning in the fall, a new
ticket outlet. Also, the Bookstore
has purchased new cash registers
(not yet installed) and a bookkeep
ing computer.
University students will proba
bly always complain of high text
book prices. But given the circum
stances, one is certainly justified
in saying “it could be worse.”
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