A collection of quote cards from Hongo Books

Q:

Tosho Card Next is being sold at a discount at discount shops, so to help reduce the burden of book costs for students, we would like you to consider the following:

1. Negotiate with major discount ticket shops (such as Ticket Ranger, J Market, or Ticketty) to have them install a book card vending machine in the university bookstore and have the shop replenish the book cards as needed. Alternatively, you can take on consignment sales from the discount ticket shop and sell them to students at a discounted price at the bookstore counter

2. The University of Tokyo Co-op will purchase Next Book Cards in bulk from major gift certificate shops at bulk rates and sell them to students at the University Bookstore (and faculty and staff if there are any surplus). In this case, it would probably be necessary to obtain a secondhand goods dealer license under the Secondhand Goods Dealers Act, but since they are planning to obtain a license in order to start trading in computers, I think the hurdle is low

I would also like them to consider other products sold at discount ticket shops that would be useful to students, such as JAL and ANA shareholder discount tickets (for going home, etc.), stamps, and JR Orange Cards (some major discount ticket shops sell stamps at a discount of nearly 20%, while Orange Cards are discounted by nearly 10%). Students can
use discount ticket shops on their own, but because they are small individual customers and therefore cannot qualify for bulk rates, and because shipping costs can be a burden for small transactions, I would like the university co-op to handle these items in bulk.

Q:

You asked if we could sell them at a discount like the book cards sold at gift certificate shops. We apologize for the delay in responding, as we had to check the purchasing conditions of the gift certificate shop based on the information you provided. The bottom line is that
it would be difficult to sell the book cards at a discount even if we purchased them from a gift certificate shop.
The reason is that if we were to purchase the book cards from the gift certificate shop you provided information
about, the purchase price would be higher than the purchase price of a new book card, once the costs involved are taken into account.
co-ops also incur certain costs in running their business,
making it difficult for us to sell the cards at the purchase price.

Q:

At the recent general meeting, it was decided that we would start a secondhand goods business to trade in computers, but would it also be possible to buy and sell used books on campus? We believe that there is a great demand for specialized books on campus

A:

Thank you for using the Co-op. Regarding purchasing used books, we do not have the financial resources to develop a purchasing system like a secondhand bookstore, and it is difficult to train personnel with the skilled knowledge required for purchasing, as is the case at secondhand bookstores. Considering the recent trends in book sales, we are currently unable to immediately begin purchasing and selling used books. We will consider future possibilities within the Co-op based on your feedback