College bookstores have mastered the art of making students broke and bitter, all in the name of “education.” The endless cycle of buying overpriced textbooks and selling them back for next to nothing is enough to make anyone lose faith in the system.
But one student decided he wasn’t going to play their game anymore. When his pricey economics book was deemed “worthless,” he cooked up a clever plan to make sure someone else benefitted instead.
His revenge wasn’t loud or flashy, it was smart, simple, and deeply satisfying.
The poster’s experience is a sharp little jab at how campus bookstores (and the textbook economy more broadly) exploit captive consumers.
The poster’s problem is simple: they were forced, by institutional policy tied to VA vouchers, to buy an overpriced, outdated textbook from their university bookstore (for ~$300), even though the same edition could be bought online for ~$20.
Then, when they tried to sell it back, the bookstore offered one cent, despite the fact that the bookstore would presumably resell it for much more.
The protagonist felt used, literally, and decided to exact a bit of poetic justice by handing the book off to another student instead of letting the bookstore profit yet again.
On the one hand, textbook publishers and campus bookstores defend high prices because of high upfront costs (revisions, ancillary materials, maintaining inventory, and so on).
The Economist pointed out that the nominal price of textbooks has increased more than fifteen-fold since 1970. On the other hand, critics argue there’s an agency problem, instructors select the book, students have little choice, and publishers/bookstores act with market power.
Scott Sumner, writing for Econlib, noted: “The instructor chooses the book, often oblivious to its price. The student has little choice but to buy the book.” That captures precisely what the poster faced: no real market or negotiating power.
This intersects with a broader social issue, inequality in education. For many students, textbooks are a hidden burden. Over half of students say that high course material costs forced them to drop or not take certain classes.
And textbooks often cost more than inflation and even outpace tuition hikes. In families where budgets are tight, being forced to overpay or accept pennies back deepens inequity.
So what should the poster, and others in similar positions do? First, lobby the institution to adopt open educational resources or older editions transparently, giving students choice.
Second, explore alternate channels (used-book markets, peer sales) rather than defaulting to the campus store. Third, document and expose these practices (as the poster did), which pressures bookstores to change.
That said, in the short term the poster might also confront bookstore management, request a formal appeal, or engage campus advocacy groups for reform.
Let’s dive into the reactions from Reddit:
These Redditors roasted the outdated textbook resale model for being a long-running scam.
Others backed the original poster’s approach and offered clever student-to-student alternatives.
Some commenters took a broader view, contrasting how other countries or schools run fairer systems.
Finally, some users couldn’t resist adding humor to the mix, mocking professors who rewrite books just to sell “new editions” every semester.
Sometimes the sweetest revenge doesn’t involve shouting matches or lawsuits, it’s as simple as cutting out the middleman. It wasn’t about the twenty bucks or the penny, it was about principle.
Do you think the OP’s move was a clever stand against greed, or should they have just shrugged it off and moved on? Drop your thoughts and textbook horror stories below!
