Last month, I saw a tweet from a college student who sold her rental textbook to another student before she realized it was a rental.

Scanning Twitter today, I see even more students with the same problem. One sold a rental textbook to someone else for $10 and then had to pay a fine of $85 for not returning the rental. Her fine was in addition to the rental fee she already paid at the beginning of the semester. Others missed their rental due date and had to pay late fees. Reminder email notices from the rental source ended up in SPAM folders or just weren’t read by the students.

None of this is surprising. Email reminders or notifications on bookstore receipts are often missed by college students. The student probably can’t even find the receipt after four months! I can confirm that to be true at our house.

A removable sticker placed on the cover of a rental textbook serves to remind students (1) which BOOKSTORE owns the textbook and 2) when it’s due. This is a simple yet effective way to reach rental book users.

Why not try My Removable Stickers on your rental textbooks?

They are easy to peel and leave no sticky residue. You can use this Word Template  to create customized reminder messages. Then simply print your message on the removable sticker sheets with a laser printer, inkjet printer or high speed copier.

College bookstores, please use these stickers to effectively communicate with the students who rent your textbooks. You’ll not only get your textbooks back in a timely manner – which will help you from a planning standpoint – but you’ll also eliminate student anger when they are penalized for not returning the book. It’s a win/win situation for bookstores and college students.