The New York Times has an interesting article on a textbook renting business called Chegg.com. It caught my eye because, as the article points out, students so often complain about the high cost of textbooks. Indeed, after tuition, room and board, textbooks represent the largest expense for students. So it is no surprise that students always appear to be looking for ways to cut down on their textbook costs and thus this seems like an area ripe for innovation, especially in this economy. Chegg.com and its rival BookRenter.com not only allow students to rent books, but also enable students to buy or sell books. The Chegg.com website indicates that since 2004 over 6,000 campuses have used its services. And for every book sold, rented, or bought, Chegg.com plants a tree. I initially thought that the textbook renting service applied only to college books, but when I searched available books on both Chegg.com and BookRenter.com, I found that law school books also were available for rent. It is not clear how many law students utilize the service and if such a service is the same as the college textbook rental market given that law school books seem to change editions often, but it is certainly an intriguing alternative to the used book market. Moreover, BookRenter.com appeared to have the latest edition of many law books—though it seemed that the cost savings for semester rentals of such books were not as significant as discounts on some other books. The New York Times article noted that while Chegg.com’s revenue in 2008 was over $10 million, the company surpassed that amount in January of 2009 alone—so it appears to be a concept that is taking off. The founders of Chegg.com credit Netflix for part of their success because Netflix has made people more comfortable with an online rental system. I am sure they also can credit the high cost of books and tuition, as well as the status of the economy.
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