Found a stat about textbook prices that flipped my thrift store strategy

I was reading a post on a NH college group and saw that textbook prices drop 70% within one year of release. So now I'm debating if I should grab those $5 textbooks at the Concord Salvation Army or just wait for them to hit the free bin. Has anyone else noticed older editions being just as good for learning?

2 comments

2 Comments

charles91925d ago

My brother grabbed a physics book from the dumpster behind the UNH library once. Only difference from the new one was the cover had a coffee stain and the chapter order was shuffled around. He still passed the class with a B. Meanwhile I paid $180 for a "required" edition that had three extra paragraphs nobody read. Sometimes I wonder if publishers just change one equation and call it a new version.

matthew86425d ago

That 70% drop stat is hilarious because I once saw a "new edition" of a calculus book where the only change was they moved problem 47 from page 312 to page 315. My buddy literally taped a note over his old edition's problem numbers and the professor never noticed. Publishers are basically running a scam where they swap out the cover art and call it a revolution. So yeah, grab that thrift store find and laugh all the way to passing the class for pocket change.