Contest allows for more student rewards
By Victoria Shelor, contributing writer
Posted on April 24, 2006

It’s buyback time again at the bookstore, but this year there is a whole new incentive to get students to give up their used books.

JMU’s Buyback Challenge is a contest open to all student organizations to sell the most books back, in terms of dollar amount, to the bookstore for a grand prize of $1,000.  The club finishing second gets $500 and third place receives $250.

Even students who are not members of a participating organization may partake in the challenge. By mentioning an organization when you sell back your books, the organization mentioned will receive more points toward winning the grand prize.
 
For the first time ever, the Rockingham Hall Parking Lot will have a drive-through site where students can sell back their books without even getting out of their cars. 

The drive-through location was invented because typically, students are anxious to go home after  finals and the parking lots on campus are usually crowded at that time, said John Rheault, director of the JMU Bookstore. 

“This is the first time we’re trying the drive-through, but I think it will be successful,” Rheault said.

Working together with JMU faculty, the bookstore strived to get textbook orders in earlier and use as many re-adopted titles as possible in order for students to get more money back in the end, Rheault said.

So far, JMU has processed over 50 percent of the expected fall semester bookstore adoptions, while last year at this time only 37 percent  were processed, according to Rheault.

Of the 1,211 titles adopted for next fall, 581 are re-adopted from the spring semester. Rheault said these 48 percent of re-adopted titles become used textbook inventory for the fall and the buyback cash the student may receive is cut in half.

Because of the 48 percent re-adoption rate and the 50 percent expected fall adoption processed rate, JMU has confirmed used textbook inventory from three national used book wholesalers, and expected a buyback from students in excess of $1.09 million. This is a net savings to students of $544,000. Adding $700,000 in expected buyback, JMU students will save $1.2 million this fall, according to Rheault, who says these expected values are about 95 percent accurate.
 
The contest will be held during finals week, between May 1 and 5. Buyback locations include the JMU Bookstore, Zane Showker, ISAT A1 Lobby and the Ashby Crossing club house.

Since 1999, the JMU Bookstore has paid out more than $4.75 million  in buyback money to students.