$9.03

In an effort to apply the knowledge gained in my two introductory economics classes avoid giving the Cornell Store any of my parents’ hard-earned money, I bought all my books for this semester on Amazon or from Ithaca’s only cooperatively owned bookstore (Buffalo Street Books). Due to the Cornell Cartel’s Store’s manufacturer-suggested pricing, with added contribution to the Buy the Dean a Drink fund, I got all the textbooks I needed for my ChemE classes for less than the Cornell Store was charging to rent a used copy of the book.

The liberal studies class I signed up for mainly because it fit in my schedule didn't have any books listed with the Cornell Store, but when I went to the first lecture, it turned out that we did indeed require books. Nine of them, in fact. We had the option of buying the books online from the bookstore and having them delivered to class, buying them from another source, or using the books on reserve at the library. I prefer to have my own copy of the texts, so that meant the bookstore or Amazon.

Because I obviously have nothing better to do with my time, I found all the books on Amazon and cataloged their titles, prices, and ISBNs. Then I compared the prices on Amazon to the bookstore prices. The bookstore sold the whole course pack at list prices for $137 while the books on Amazon cost about $115 (16% cheaper). However, Amazon would charge tax (about 8%) while the bookstore did not, and the bookstore would deliver to the lecture in time for me to do the first book reading, compared to five to eight days for an Amazon delivery. Furthermore, the books on Amazon were not uniformly 16% cheaper but ranged from list price to over 20% cheaper.

Naturally, what I ended up doing was buying the first four books we needed from the bookstore because they were all either list price or 15 cents cheaper on Amazon. I ordered the last five books from Amazon a few days later. I saved $9.03.