As a college student, Mike Shannon realized that some textbooks are rarely opened by students because they are only used a few times in class, but students still need to buy the book. To save money, most students try to purchase used textbooks if at all possible, but this creates something of a vicious cycle as textbook manufacturers raise prices to compensate for the fact that while they only make a profit once, the book may be resold 4 or 5 times. Shannon realized this was an inefficient business model where all parties lost out to a certain extent. In addition to the costs, his research revealed that 78% of students open their textbooks less than once a week.
His creation: Packback, currently in its beta period, puts a twist on conventional electronic textbook rental models by allowing students to rent the book for just 1 day at a fee of $5 per day. This allows students to save money on textbooks that are only used a few times during the semester, and if a student finds they are referring to a certain book more than a few times all the daily fees will be credited towards the semester long rental price. So, there is really no risk to students if they decide to rent a book for a single day.
Shannon believes Packback can boost revenue for textbook companies, reduce costs for students, and accelerate the adoption of digital textbooks, which he says has been stalled by the used book market, in effect playing a role similar to iTunes in its infancy as a platform to ensure content creators receive compensation for the use of their content while packaging it in a lower cost form.
I am impressed by Shannon’s creativity in developing a way to promote the adoption of digital books while benefiting both textbook publishers and students, only time will tell, but I think Packback has a great future and could become an integral part of how we acquire textbooks.
I strongly believe that Packback will be a huge hit! I know personally, as a student, I often feel as if I’m wasting my money buying textbooks that I end up usually using nearly 3-5 times a semester. I have even offered to pay class mates if they’d allow me to use their text book for a few hours a night, or a few days, rather than purchasing the whole book to only use it a few times.
On another note, I personally would prefer to do the daily purchase and receive a physical copy of the textbook rather than a digital one, simply because I feel that I study better that way. However, society has come to know and love the world that kindle has created, and Packback may see an increase in their digital market if they are able to compete with Amazon’s cheap digitial rentals.
After reading about this, Payback could be a huge hit. There are hundreds of thousands of college students and everything in the classroom is starting to transition to electronics. I believe there is a need for this and Payback could be the answer. Great post!
This is genius. From a student’s perspective, this is a dream come true. I wonder, however, if the site will have problems convincing publishers that they can make money this way. For example, if a company was used to making $100 a book, would they even offer it on PackBack if they only made $20-30? All things considered, this is a great idea. I wish this came out before I was a senior!
Packback sounds like a really great business idea. The cost of textbooks can often times be very overwhelming and unreasonable. Many times students only choose to use or need to use their books a few times. The value provided by this company could really be useful to many students.