Why Educators Will Stop Shopping at Barnes & Noble

They just lost their biggest customers

Today, I searched Barnes and Noble for a few of my students’ requests for books to add to my classroom library.

After perusing throughout the fiction and young adult sections, I went to checkout to purchase the books.

The sales associate informed me B&N is no longer honoring the educator discount card I held in my hand.

As a frequent customer of B&N, I loved receiving 20% off all books. It was a great sign of appreciation from B&N to teachers, who don’t make a respectable income in most of the United States.

I was heartbroken to find out B&N chose to do away with it.

First of all, I have been filling my classroom library with books my students request for the seven years I have been teaching. Any books that students no longer find interesting I either donate or allow students to keep.

Second, I have been a loyal customer to B&N since I began teaching. Over 90% of the books I’ve purchased have been from B&N, because I prefer to purchase books from a brick and mortar store, as opposed to buying them online.

The interaction with other readers who are thinking of purchasing a book you have already read strikes up great conversations. It allows readers to talk to others and get great recommendations.

Books that other readers find popular also makes its way into the classroom. I’ve heard from my bookworm students that they are currently reading Colleen Hoover (though their opinion of her books are mixed).

Now that B&N won’t be offering a 20% discount to educators, I am hesitant to continue shopping for books there.

Their rationale is absurd

When I asked the sales associate why B&N made this decision, she said that premium customers complained that they received 10% while educators received a 20% discount.

First of all, let’s start off with the obvious.

Teachers NEED books. Most parents do not purchase books for their children. Most of my high school students rarely step foot in the school’s library unless a teacher takes them there. Nor have most of them stepped foot in my town’s public library.

Teachers like myself will dedicate a part of our income to buying books students are interested in reading when put in front of them. Not all libraries can afford to purchase the most popular books on TikTok every week.

Of course, not all teachers can either, but receiving that 20% discount helped a lot.

Why teachers won’t shop at Barnes and Noble anymore

While I can understand B&N has bills to pay (electricity, rent on the property, their employees), their prices cannot be compared to Amazon.

One example is B&N’s The Cruel Prince Trilogy. As a paperback, it sells for $39.99. However, with the 20% discount, the price came down to $31.99 before taxes.

On Amazon, the trilogy is currently selling for $24.01.

Even with the discount, the price doesn’t compare. I save $7.98 buying from Amazon than I would buying at B&N.

However, I would’ve preferred to spend my money at a brick and mortar store, knowing I can interact with other readers and give up those $7.98 for the sake of the experience, and possible finding other books my students might enjoy as well.

Without the educator discount, I’d be paying 66% more than I would on Amazon. That’s $15.98 more buying it from B&N than from Amazon.

Those $15.98 can be better spent buying one or two more books online than at a brick and mortar store.

Of course, there are websites dedicated to teachers who want to buy books online to fill up their classroom libraries. Some websites sell books in bulk for teachers.

However, when a teacher’s focus is getting their students to read, every book they purchase matters. Buying a book that several students will read cannot compare to having a full classroom library of books students will not read.

What B&N needs to do

B&N needs to bring back the educator discount.

As I stated, teachers rely on bookstores to supply their classroom libraries with books students want to read.

By eliminating the educator discount program, teachers will turn to the next best and most affordable option: buying books online.

B&N intentionally lost itself thousands of customers by eliminating the educator discount program.

Their logic makes no sense. If they want to continue competing with Amazon, they need to continue offering perks, rewards, and discounts to their biggest customers.

Should they decide not to bring back the educator discount program, it’s unlikely teachers will continue shopping there.

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