Triple A (AAA) and Textbooks

My body clock is completely wacked out because I rose before the sun a couple days ago to work elections.  So here I am, in the wee hours of the morning awake... again.  To fill my time, I am going over my son's book list and printing a buying guide for him.  This will help him to know where the best deals are for the books he needs.  (some books of course... the ones well over $100 are college specific and need to be purchased at the school bookstore-or so they say.  Others are available for less at Amazon for way less, and
one should probably be rented for $20.)

Anyway, as I am finishing up my virtual book discount window-shopping experience, I realize an infomercial for AAA is on the TV.  I was remotely aware of it, listening to how all the people were saved by their AAA memberships and agents.  Then they got personal. I looked up to see a family where one man was standing in a bright blue shirt, and a man and woman were sitting on stools, and there were a couple of kids on the side.  I noticed that the seated man was talking about how his AAA agent was part of the family, and then the woman called him a saint, and a Godsend.  I squinted at the TV.  I realize that the man in the blue-shirt with his arm around both the man and the woman is the AAA Agent/infomercial actor.  Oh-my-gosh! I said.  They've gone to far.  I think she shed a tear and laid her head on his shoulder.  Gag-me-with-a-spoon! That was one heck of a sales pitch.

My anger over this sappy AAA infomercial turned back to the textbook lists. As a part of our homeschooling, I have made it a point to teach my kids about saving money and spotting commercials that oversell their products.  My son is especially cynical about these things.  So, I am praying that he speaks to the professors as I have suggested before he buys the "college specific" textbooks, especially when there are other options at Amazon.com.  I hope that he has as much of a distaste of spending extra money as I have because I sure would hate for him to spend half of his graduation gift money on textbooks.


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1 comment:

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

It sounds like the AAA man is getting a little too close to his customer's wife! He'll do anything for a sale! Eeew!

College textbooks, most of them are a big waste of money but you do need them for a little while.

12 grade year of homeschooling, Finishing Strong

We are almost done with my college prep series. There will still be a video on completing the transcript.    Stay tuned... meanwhile, ...