School, Ambrosini (Booksellers): “It’s carolibri, increases between +2 and + 3%”

Rain of price increases even at school. The prices of books for Italian students are increasing between +2 and + 3%, definitely below the trend in inflation. But the expensive books, planned at the beginning of 2022 by the publishers, even if it does not represent a surprise, adds to the many expenses and increases that families will have to face in the autumn, starting with the bills. “The increase in the prices of school books, on average, will be between 2 and 3%, an increase set by each publisher at the beginning of the year”, says Paolo Ambrosini, president of Ali, the Confcommercio Booksellers Association, speaking with Adnkronos in anticipation of the resumption of the school year. “There is not a huge fluctuation – he adds – also because for the determination of the price, publishers must take into account the maximum spending ceilings, set by law, for each cycle of studies that have been at a standstill for more than ten years. After all, publishers know that when they touch the prices they have difficulty in placing the texts, so much so that some schools are making some books of less necessary subjects optional, however depriving the student of an important training tool and this is a a problem that is also under the attention of the Ministry of Education “underlines Ambrosini. The world of Italian booksellers, moreover, reports a” shortage of raw materials, paper. This problem is slowing down production and worries booksellers because at the beginning of the school year there is no full availability of the texts “. And, despite this situation, Ambrosini remarks,” we do not understand the reasons that led, again this year, the distribution network of publishers to block their activities for three weeks in the summer: it is inconceivable “he points out. Considering that just over half of independent bookstores (52.2%) distribute school texts. A sector that of school books is difficult and challenging, as most of the bookstores that do not deal with them have preferred to specialize in other types of books. “It is not clear why … where the distribution network of reading books is open and remains closed only on 15 and 16 August (Mondadori and Messaggerie) – he remarks – so where there is elasticity of demand and you have to chase the consumer, the availability of the service is always there, even in the summer period and instead in the school market no “. The explanation is soon said: “in the textbook market the value is defined with the adoption of textbooks by schools (the lists of books decided by the teachers) – explains Ambrosini – upstream, therefore, it is decided how many copies of that book will be sold throughout Italy and the publisher can sit in his ‘comfort zone’ because the sale is already done on paper, he doesn’t care if the book arrives on September 1st or November 30th “. The publishers therefore closed their warehouses for three weeks in August and this means that the booksellers will resume collecting their textbooks after August 25: “in just two weeks the booksellers will have to be able to complete all the orders in progress and will be forced to go around the warehouses at the last moment. So there will be delays in deliveries “.