Hey, there! Log in / Register

Cambridge cops quell Coop confrontation

The Harvard Crimson reports:

The Harvard Coop called police yesterday after three undergraduates collecting information for a student-run textbook-shopping Web site refused to leave the bookstore. The two Cambridge police officers who arrived allowed the students to continue copying down book identification numbers, which they did for two and a half hours before leaving on their own terms.

Neighborhoods: 
Free tagging: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

I always adore absurd and abundant alliteration.

up
Voting closed 0

If I can get it down to just two words, I have a career writing headlines for Channel 7.

up
Voting closed 0

Good for them!

Textbook stores and the industry really sticks it to students and actively goes after professors who photocopy just what is needed. I can understand the 1st edition price, but do we really need to plop down 150% for a 10th edition science books that only has error corrections and a new chapter. Oh but look you get these crazy new thing called a CD, and a fancy dandy colorin.. I mean study guide...

up
Voting closed 0

My favorite scam (which I'm currently a victim of with my Spanish textbook) is when they include an activity book for you to complete your assignments in. That means you cannot resell the book, or buy one used, as you spend the entire semester ripping out pages to turn in as homework.

The textbook is useless without the activity book, and the activity book comes shrinkwrapped with the textbook and cannot be bought separately.

On top of all this, the books cannot be returned once the shrinkwrap has been broken.

Oh, and in my case the book in question happens to be both the thinnest and most expensive out of all the books I was forced to buy this semester. We're talking nearly half of my book budget going to one book.

Before I end my rambling, poorly-structured rant, I might add that it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside when colleges do not provide the ISBN numbers for required materials, so you are forced to cross your fingers and hope that the copy of the 3rd Edition Rev. C book you are ordering from a third party is actually the one you need. The only alternative (the one they're hoping you go with) is to head on over to the college bookstore and pay whatever outrageous price they pull out of the air.

up
Voting closed 0

The Coop management is under the bizarre impression that its price lists are "intellectual property." They aren't. I'm quite happy not to shop at a store that acts this way.

up
Voting closed 0

...is that the Coop was actually a co-operative for students at one point.

My, how times have changed!

up
Voting closed 0

I know they are technically a coop, but they haven't had any concept of that since the late 80s.

That's when they built the big retail-focussed store in Tech Square that tanked the rebates. We used to get 8-10% (like REI) back on our books and other purchases. It dropped within a year to 2-3% return. Really looking out for the members, huh?

This store was in Kendall Square, which at the time was way out of the way of the main campus for Techies- no longer possible to just drop in between classes and buy crackers - AND featured lots of clothing and luggage and jewelry and tourist things we never did and would need. If I'm going to walk half a mile out of my way to buy shoes or clothes, it wasn't going to be there. I'd go downtown or Harvard Square first!

They stopped listening and paying attention and now the Coop is just pathetic. I think it would be good for them to have a court-ordered visit from REI to straighten them out on the "customer service" thing. If they didn't gouge for text books and offer crappy rebates, or even offered their own pre-order service to safe floorspace and costs and restocking costs, they wouldn't be in this fix.

up
Voting closed 0

The Harvard Coop return for members was like 7% last year.

up
Voting closed 0