Wednesday, June 03, 2009

No Wonder B&N Can't Make Much Money

Two women accused of stealing, reselling 4,000 books worth $325,000 - NOLA.com: "Tanya Vatter and Vanessa Tabora might have been your average college students looking to make some cash during the recession by selling used textbooks.

But the folks at Chimes Textbook Exchange in New Orleans suspected something more than an extraordinary class schedule or personal library after the ladies began cashing in books almost every day between January and March, sometimes twice a day.

Authorities say Vatter, 33, of Metairie, and Tabora, 23, of Kenner, have admitted to stealing books from at least seven Barnes & Nobles stores in Louisiana and Mississippi - an estimated 4,000 books worth $325,000 since August, according to Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office incident and arrest reports. The two took their stolen tomes to Chimes, where they received 30 to 50 percent of the cover price."

5 comments:

Jonathan Hayes said...

Wait, what?

4,000 books worth $325,000 means that the average B&N book they stole cost more than $80!

Something ain't right here...

Unknown said...

Maybe someone can't do math. Me, for example. I didn't run the figures. But you're right.

Gerard Saylor said...

$80 seems too high even if they stole hugely expensive science textbooks which go up to $140.

Dan said...

Hey, that's how I made my way through College!

Rusty said...

The authorities probably used the same formula they use for calculating the "street value" of drugs. But if you've priced college textbooks lately, $80.00 ain't out of line, assuming they're talking about retail values.

Seems to me like those two ladies don't need college. They've got the entrepreneurial spirit and just need to go start their own business.

Oh, that's right. They did.

Rusty