Occupy the Bookstore: a Chrome Plugin for Finding Cheaper Textbooks

Broke and beleaguered college students sick of being gouged when buying textbooks need only to head on over to this Reddit AMA to learn about OccupytheBookstore.com, a new Chrome plug-in that “overlays competitive market prices for textbooks directly on the college bookstore website,” much to the chagrin of campus bookstore giant Follett. The creators of the plugin took questions earlier today and shot to the top of the site’s front page. As mentioned, their plugin allows students an opportunity to compare prices from Amazon and other third-party sellers when browsing their campus bookstore site.

Companies like Follett makes tons of money ($2.7 billion for Follett alone, according to the AMA) selling marked-up textbooks to college students who, until recent years, didn’t have much choice but to shell out. It’s an awful racket and yet another example of the university-industrial complex shaking down helpless college students for all they’re worth. Occupy the Bookstore is one of many other services that seeks to steer students away from giving in to their evil campus bookstore overlords:

“Though students are increasingly aware of third-party options, many are still dependent on the campus bookstore because they control the information for which textbooks are required by course.

Here’s a GIF of it in action.”

The AMA is really insightful and features several really thought-out questions and answers, so I definitely recommend taking a look over there. There’s a good conversation about Follett’s attempts to shut the service down and whether there’s any chance of legal strife between the two parties. The page is linked below; be sure to tell us what you think in the comments.