Bookstore policy limits student choice

A store’s return policy has always, and will always be that business’s prerogative. So long as we live in a free market, and the customer got what they paid for, no one can tell the owner of a business that they must accept returns.

That being said, the customers of that store do have a say in the matter. If they do not like a store’s return policy, they do not have to shop at that store, and if enough customers think the same way, the policy is likely to be changed.

As of Jan. 1, 2008, the College Store’s policy on book returns is, “Textbooks may be returned up to two weeks from the first day of classes when a class has been dropped. The class can not be listed on your Angel account and original receipt is provided at the time of the return. New books must be unmarked, not damaged and in saleable condition.”

During the first week of classes students are able to return any books they purchased, so long as they meet the aforementioned criteria. In the second week of classes, the student must prove to the store that they are no longer taking the class to be eligible for a full refund.

Cardinal Points objects to this statute of the store’s return policy for more than the obvious reason of the school not using Angel anymore.

What we really object to is the fact that if a student does not need the book, for whatever reason, they should have the right to return it within the given time of two weeks. A student should not have to prove they dropped a class to return a book.

What if they only needed the book temporarily while one was mailed to them? What if they are going to share the book with a classmate? What if they just don’t need the book because they happen to know everything inside of it?

 We understand that the college store has a profit margin to maintain and that they do not want students returning a book for the wrong reasons. If this type of a policy were not in place, there are students that would use the bookstore as a library until they could find the book on the cheap somewhere else. That being said, making a student/customer prove they dropped a class seems to us like an overstep in authority.

The college store’s business is selling books, and it does that very well. However, the position of this paper is that it is not their business to know why the student does not need a book anymore. So long as the book is unmarked, not damaged and in saleable condition, what difference does it make if the student has dropped the course?

If a student is selling his or her book, but has not dropped the course, they take responsibility for the grade they receive thereafter. College is about learning to shoulder one’s responsibilities, which includes managing personal expenses. The management of the College Store should amend its return policy to allow students the freedom to return an unused book for a full refund, so long as its within two weeks and accompanied by proper proof of purchase.