Thoughts on University of Kentucky Athletics, the textbook industry, and the ridiculousness of American politics.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

You Can't Hide Money


If you click on this blog title you can check out a story at uky.edu about the big U.K. Bookstore renovation coming this fall. According to the article, "The renovation and expansion is scheduled for completion in November 2008 at a cost of $3.1 million."

That's right, folks. $3.1 million smackeroos.

That's a whole lotta cash to throw around in today's world of inflation, rising tuition costs, and lest we forget - rising textbook costs. But, don't worry. Mega-giant corporation Follett Higher Education runs the U.K. Bookstore and is picking up the tab, not U.K. A look at the price comparison on this very blog shows that U.K. Bookstore is probably not hurting for money in today's troubled times, so don't worry your pretty head about that part.

So, what's all the moolah going toward? Shorter lines? More efficient means of buying back books than scanning books at one counter then sending a customer to wait at another counter before finally giving up the dough?

Nope.

They're promising more square footage for the essentials of college life like, "seating so that the community can spend time browsing the books and magazines." Good thing, because I remember hearing several people at the Community Center last Sunday say that they wished they could sit in the campus bookstore and browse the Math section or look through the July edition of "Guns & Ammo".

I don't know which group I'm more scared of, by the way.

One thing's for certain- there will be a response from Wildcat Textbooks. Just last week, we found an unopened gallon of paint that had been here for over a year and parlayed that, along with 8 dollars worth of drywall, into a brand new dressing room. Sure, if it rains it may leak a little through the roof, but that's only when it rains hard. And that's just the start. In addition to cleaning the windows and mopping the floors every week, we pledge to have the staff shower just as often.

While these cosmetic changes at Wildcat may not entice the community to come in and read our GER 201 textbooks, they will come in about 3.0999999999999999 million dollars less than U.K. Bookstore's cosmetic changes and allow us to continue to sell books for astonishingly less than the campus bookstore.

Wildcat Textbooks- selling books for less instead of flaunting our price-gouging ways with unnecessary building expansions. That's our whole philosophy.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is a brilliant article. excellent point. i always wondered why uk bookstore's prices were so high...

Anonymous said...

You are a brilliant man, and devishly handsome I might add :)

Anonymous said...

I hear that the one called 'Hitman' didnt ever shower until the one called 'cracker' started working there.

I used to think that the leaking roof... was the cause of the uninviting smell.... but I guess it was just the employees

I would Elaborate but the Cubs are playing, and boy do I love the Cubs.