The Last Day Of Spring Quarter Classes At The University Of Denver

Today is the last day of spring quarter classes at the University of Denver. For many years, I was the Finance Manager at the DU Bookstore, until the store was outsourced to Follett Higher Education Group. The end of the quarter always used to be a very busy time for the store. Once classes were over, students began to come in to sell their textbooks, and we would have three representatives from Nebraska Book Company, our software and used textbook provider, come in to buy those books back. The students came in droves, and the Nebraska guys were kept very busy. The store was outsourced in 2012, and since then times have definitely changed. Textbook rentals were becoming very popular at the time I left the business, meaning no books to sell back, only return, and during the Covid-19 pandemic, the move to digital content was accelerated. All of which drastically reduced the number of physical textbooks to buy back. Which probably explains why the Follet-run DU Bookstore was practically deserted as I passed by it and took the photograph on the left yesterday afternoon.

I have very fond memories of book buy week. The Nebraska guys were all a lot of fun and would treat the managers to a dinner at Reivers Bar and Grill, located a few miles from campus, while they were here. Once the store was outsourced to Follett, Nebraska lost our account, and as more and more stores outsourced their stores, more and more accounts were lost, which meant hard times for the Nebraska Book Company. I have been Facebook friends for years with these reps, and not too many years later all 3 had left the company. And sadly, Nebraska Book Company itself went out of business in March of 2023, putting 114 people out of work, blaming the move to digital content for drying up the flow of those used books needed for inventory. In any case, the photograph on the right shows Nebraska reps Chuck, on the left, and Jason, on the right, after a long day of buying books back on June 4th of 2010. The third rep, John, was no doubt busy tallying the books for the day. That is almost 15 years ago to the day. Time does indeed fly. And I do believe I might have said that once or twice before on this blog. So sue me.