A few weeks ago, I witnessed a familiar scene in my part-time job at the Cornell Store. A flustered sophomore came in to return a massive $200 organic chemistry textbook. When he handed me his receipt, my heart sank. The date indicated he had purchased the book more than a week earlier, but he had only seven days to return it. I had the unfortunate job of telling him that this expensive book was now his to keep; he could try selling it back at the end of the year, though he would get significantly less than he’d paid for it. When he put up a fight, I handed him over to my boss and watched as she sternly told him he was out of luck.
In my two and half years at the Cornell Store, I have had to tell countless students that they couldn’t return their books. As a student, it pains me each time I have to tell a peer that they can’t have their money back. But as an employee, it’s my job to enforce the rules, of which there are many. Every student, grad or undergrad, has seven days to return a book after purchase. If they choose to drop the class that requires said book, they have three additional days. If they write or highlight in the pages, they can still return it—but for 25 percent less. There are almost no exceptions. If a student is sick or has a family emergency, we’re allowed to allot an extra day or two, but that’s it.
The store is strict about the rules because, frankly, many students try to game the system. They lie about the condition of the book, when they purchased it, or whether they’ve dropped the class. And the primary reason for students returning books is not that they suddenly decided they didn’t need them, but that they found them cheaper online. A chemistry textbook that costs close to $200 in the store can be found for as little as $3 (used) on amazon.com. However, amazon doesn’t always ship the books quickly and the condition is often questionable, which makes buying an in-store textbook the safer bet. The problem is, students will often buy a book at the store, order a cheaper copy on amazon, then try to return the store textbook after the cheaper one is delivered.
I know from an employee perspective that the Cornell Store does all it can to make the process transparent. When a book is purchased, the salesperson recites the return policy and staples a copy of the rules to the receipt. All the students have to do is abide by the rules, but they even those who know better sometimes mess up.
How do I know this is true? I have memorized the rules—yet I am the not-so-proud owner of an unwanted marketing textbook I forgot to return on time.