A de facto monopoly

2026-05-21

Every year the school sends families a list of school supplies for the next year and tells us which bookstore they can be bought from.

Although parents are usually completely free to buy wherever they want, the inconvenience of leaving the established channel means we find ourselves in a de facto monopoly: parents often end up resigned to buying books at the point of sale chosen by the school, limiting the search for better prices. In short, it is a market with only one seller, waiting for us with all the products it knows we need.

The only real barrier is the convenience of solving the whole list in a single store. Nobody forces us, but with a list of 30 or 40 items, looking for other options will take a lot of time and effort while also opening the door to possible mistakes.

The most common outcome is to resolve the list where the school invites us to do so, which may also be overwhelmed by the work peak caused by so many other parents in the same situation. And then we trust that the price is good. The problem is not the local bookstore itself, or the school selling books. The problem is the mere lack of comparison and the act of faith that is tacitly required.

In a real example, with a purchase of around EUR 220 for 1st year of ESO (age 12), we found savings compared with the bookstore suggested by the school of 10% (EUR 20) simply by changing store, 12% (EUR 25) by combining the best prices from the two best stores, and up to 30% (EUR 60) if we included some used books; per child.

This real example gives us an idea (although it is probably conservative) of the money we may be missing out on with each purchase, simply because we do not have references to compare against. On the other hand, if the price offered by the bookstore or the school is competitive, it is always good to know that and confirm it.

With the list in PDF format, lolalist lets you see the prices of all products in the best online stores in seconds, just by uploading it.

If you are interested in the cost of going back to school, I recommend reading The real cost of going back to school