Because it gives me the best chance to get a used book online, I always like to buy my textbooks for my upcoming semesters as soon as possible. A few weeks ago, I was talking with a professor who will be teaching one of my classes next term, and I asked her what books I'd need for her class. After she told me, I immediately went online to see what kind of a deal I could get.

I didn't see many bargains, and I noticed that a new edition had just been published, which isn't great because it means that the market isn't flooded with old books people are trying to get rid of. I went to my professor and asked her if she knew about the new edition. She didn't, and she suggested that I contact the publisher on her behalf and ask them to send her two free copies of the new edition: one for her, and one for her assistant (i.e., the person assisting her on this task, i.e., me).

Because I wanted to be nice, and because I was interested to see if I could get a $95 book for free, I agreed. On one hand, I can see how it would make sense for the publisher to comply. Either they do, and the 20 other students in her class buy the new edition, or they don't, and everybody buys the old edition. In the first instance, the publisher gives away $200 and makes $2000 in return. In the second instance, the publisher gives away $0 and makes $0 in return. I'm no mathematician, but last time I checked, an $1800 profit is better than no profit. On the other hand, I always strongly doubted that they'd actually send a book to me just because I asked them to do so. And yet on Monday, the books arrived in my campus mailbox.

I'm pretty sure I'll never again feel totally comfortable while buying a book.