I recently graduated from college and I am not a big fan of Follett... The company has a near monopoly on textbooks, and they charge crazy prices for their materials. I understand that the Follett has to make a profit, and the publisher has to pay for the writers and researchers for the books. But, somewhere down the line, greed comes into play big time, and the executives are preying on college students who are the primary customers. All college students want to do (at least the serious one) is to better themselves and the community (well, we can argue about this one). Most of the textbooks required for my studies were outrageously priced, the worst was a $350+ basic Mathematics textbook. And they have dirty little tactics to keep the money rolling in. All books seem to have a brand new edition every school year, and sometimes editions are changed even from semester to semester. This makes buying used books at reasonable prices virtually impossible, being that the current edition what the professor requires you to have. Many of these "new editions" are basically the stuff, however chapter and page numbers change so it's very difficult to use them. I also suspect that the schools themselves get some kind of kickback to require students to use updated books.
10 replies (most recent on top)
Hey stupidass, why are you blaming Follett for NEW EDITIONS? Goddam what the f*** do they teach in colleges nowadays...
Follett has nothing to do with the updated text book editions. Go complain to the school or your professors. I worked at Follett for years before being laid off last October and they were one of the worst companies I'd ever worked for, but they are not responsible for forcing profs or the publishers to make new editions--that isn't how it works.
9602 - You are correct that Text Manager did not get laid off. The Store Manager decided it would be better to layoff a Manager that didn't give money away.
Is this Scott Waichler commenting again (his comment was in the Tribune article too) - Waichlers are family to Follett and have big ownership.....may want to worry about that investment. Just because stock went up FY14, it will soon tumble. Can't ignore all the bad financial news.
9598 - LMAO I'll bet you $300 dollars that textbook manager didn't get laid off. Follett would hate to lose a manager that gave such great customer service.
Last year my Text Manager solved one unhappy students problem. He authorized a $300 cash refund with no book, no receipt, or any other documentation. Our Manager did call the customer and asked her to bring the money back. She said no.
http://www.tickld.com/x/wtf-is-wrong-is-wrong-with-americans-this-guy-nails-it
I think you are slightly misguided. You could have rented your textbooks through Follett's Rent-A-Text program and saved a ton of money. All lease operators (B&N, Follett, NEBO, etc.) pay the school a % of sales. So yes, the schools do profit. However, Follett hardly has a monopoly. Every heard of Amazon, eBay, and countless other specialized book companies online (Chegg, etc.)? Follett is not the evil entity, the problem lies with American policy and that higher education in America is a for-profit business. There are obvious ones like Devry that admit they are for-profit and then there are all of the schools that hide under the guise of being "non-profit." You can bet they are just as worried about selling T-shirts, textbooks and making a profit in the bookstore as any other for-profit company in the U.S. would be. That's why many schools hire B&N or Follett - their own store wasn't making a profit.
publishers decide about new editions and changing editors not the bookstore.
Follett has many bad sides, however, we are not the most evil party in this rigged game buddy