Friday, Juna 4, 1982
Eugana, Oragon
Oregon daily
__
emerald
Voluma 83
Numbar 188
The Bookstore
Is it a monopoly or just a
University area business?
Owners of University area
businesses are unhappy with
what they consider unfair ad
vantage, price undercutting
and unethical practices by the
University Bookstore
Merchants along 13th Av
enue and nearby streets say
the Bookstore s tax-exempt
status has allowed it to expand
to giant proportions, threaten
ing the livelihood of dozens of
smaller businesses which sell
similar merchandise
"The small businesses sur
rounding the campus are
threatened by continuous ex
panding and price-undercut
ting of the University of
Oregon Bookstore, reads a
petition filed last fall with the
Bookstore s board of direc
tors
Bookstore manager Jim
Williams counters the
charges, saying the store s
main purpose is to serve its
members and its policies are
justified by that purpose
"It should be very carefully
thought out before making the
implication that (the Book
store) has this inherent ad
vantage and that we abuse it,"
Williams says
The Bookstore, defined as
an educational and charitable
organization serving Universi
ty faculty, staff and students,
grossed $5.5 million in
1980-81 That figure has
grown by $1.3 million since
1979.
No business in the area can
compare with those numbers,
smaller merchants complain
And no business can compete
with the Bookstore's sales —
designed to burn excess
profits and reduce inventory
Even the Bookstore's nor
mal prices are difficult to com
pete against, merchants say
Business owners are reluc
tant to talk about the Book
store, but many say it’s a
source of frustration and a
threat to their business' exis
tence
”1 can’t see it being fair,"
says one merchant, "when the
Bookstore can sell things
cheaper than we can buy
them." The merchant adds
that the Bookstore’s "20 per
cent-off everything" sales do
irreparable damage to his
business. The Christmas sale
of that proportion reduces
other merchants' income in a
crucial season
"Is it really necessary7 Does
a store that big have to put the
pressure on us smaller busi
nesses the way it does?”
Williams says he
understands the complaints
from the area businesses, but
the priorities of the Bookstore
override those concerns
The Bookstore tries not to
compete directly with smaller
business, Williams says, but
"trying to make (the Book
store) better as far as what the
customers want is our goal."
"I’m not going to say,” he
continues, "that the Book
store is perfect I’m not going
to say we're the most moral
business in town I would
stand on the reputation of the
Bookstore "
What the Bookstore sells —
not how it sells it — is of greater
concern to merchants
"The only advantage I can
gain,” one merchant says, "is
to have things the Bookstore
doesn’t.” But the same mer
chant says she's exhausted
from trying not to duplicate the
Bookstore's inventory Book
store employees have entered
her store, surveyed the inven
tory and ordered it for the
Bookstore's shelves, she
claims
Another store reports
Bookstore employees spend
ing an entire day surveying its
operation
"It’s prudent to go and see
what's out there.” Williams
says, acknowledging the sur
veying He notes that the sur
veying is not restricted to the
University area "You have to
make (the Bookstore) better
I'm not apologizing for that ”
Many merchants feel the
Bookstore has expanded into
retail areas where it shouldn't,
and this has brought the store
heavy criticism. But Williams
says technically there’s noth
ing the Bookstore can't sell.
The effect new mechandise
will have on area businesses is
considered by the board, but it
takes a back seat to consider
ations of practicality and
profit-margins.
Yet with tax-exempt status
and a large advertising budget
— $38,839 last year — mer
chants say the Bookstore
stretches itself too far.
Area merchants believe the
Bookstore shouldn't cater to
the outlying community. The
Bookstore agrees
So does the IRS. The Book
store is taxed for every pur
chase made by a non-member.
This area has become the
largest point of contention
Area businesses claim the Bookstore’s policies threaten their
livelihood.
that, unwillingly or not, the
Bookstore serves a greater
clientele than is readily ack
nowledged.
The recording of non
member purchases is the
cashiers’ job, but the
customer must declare himself
a non-member.
A sign near the cash regis
ters requests that all non
members declare themselves
but doesn’t state that the cus
tomer will not be charged ex
tra. Wiliams notes the sign’s
wording comes from the IRS,
but he says he is planning on
new wording.
At the year's outset the
University Small Business As
sociation, the campus-area
business league, approached
the Bookstore with charges of
unfair competition. The Book
store, now a USBA member,
pledged "greater sensitivity"
to the merchants. But USBA
members see that sensitivity
dwindling. Williams wonders if
the owners are asking too
much.
“I feel there is sensitivity,"
Williams says. The dilemma is,
as he sees it, an “impasse of
different perspectives."
Story by Brent Walth
Photo by Bob Baker
Hot air causes ‘fizzling out’ in Oregon Hall
By Ann Portal
Of tf>« Eirwmk)
Don’t tell the staff in Oregon Hall
they're full of hot air — they already
know And they're hot under the collar
about the nine-year-old building’s au
tomatic air conditioning system — or
rumored lack of one
"It’s a serious problem when you con
sider that on days that are very nice we re
working in 80 to 90 degree tempera
tures," says Vicki Bockes, financial aid
office manager "If it's automatic, it isn’t
automatic enough.”
Besides protesting high temperatures,
Bockes and other staff members
complain that the air doesn’t seem to
move through the building efficiently
The air in the financial aid office
frequently turns stale in the afternoons,
she says. In the summer, some em
ployees have to come in early to finish
the bulk of their work, she says, before
the air turns hot and stale after lunch.
Staff in her office complain of
headaches, burning eyes and "fizzling
out," Bockes says, adding that financial
aid employees have "an exceptionally
high illness rate .”
On the other side of the building,
management assistant Bonnie Reed
says her office in student affairs also gets
hot and stuffy. Last week the tempera
ture hovered around the low 80s, "which
to me is bearable," she says
Even if Oregon Hall's air doesn’t
circulate properly, speculations about
the air system’s defects do. Staff suggest
a number of reasons for the inadequate
air conditioning, including poor building
design, Pres Carter’s energy policies,
front doors that are propped open and
budget problems.
The real cause, according to Harold
Babcock, physical plant director, is
‘most of the above,” but mostly the
budget.
Babcock says the system is in better
shape this summer than last, when peti
tions and complaints from the Oregon
Hall staff surfaced. The problem, at that
time, was attributable to a lack of fuel
In the winter and spring, water from the
Mill Race is used in the air conditioning
system, which runs year-round. But the
water itself can't be cooled, so it can be
used only when the weather is cold e
nough to keep the water temperature
down
In the summer, the physical plant
switches to steam-driven coolers for its
air conditioning system. Unfortunately, it
cost $4,000 a day last summer to run the
coolers. The physical plant delayed
turning them on, because of a shortage
of the hog fuel needed to fuel the
coolers. They may have waited a little too
long, Babcock says.
“We try not to run them any more than
we have to. Every day that we can wait
we save quite a bit of money,” he says.
This year, the physical plant has
repaired one of the two cooler pumps
and recently tested both. The system is
ready and will be turned on as soon as
the weather turns warm, Babcock says.
In response to complaints about stale
air, Babcock says that air should be
circulating constantly during work hours
and that his office has instruments to
measure whether the air is moving.
However, shifting of offices and
remodeling within the buildings has up
set the original air balance, he says,
estimating that it will cost $15,000 or
more to fix the balance. In the interim,
he suggests staff on the sunny sides of
the building pull their drapes and shades
and keep the front doors closed, to keep
hot air from drifting up to the second and
third-floor offices.