As with all new programs, I understand there will be unforeseen issues and technical glitches with Bulldog Bundle. The issue I have is not a lack of patience. I feel the basic concept of the Bulldog Bundle is flawed.
As stated in the Reflector news article, MSU with Barnes & Noble announced Bulldog Bundle as a partnership or collaboration, but the relationship is more of a monopoly from the student perspective.  The ‘partnership’ between MSU and Barnes & Noble greatly limited students’ options and more importantly, student autonomy.
It is highly unethical to invoice a consumer for a product the consumer has never ordered and may not even want to begin with. In some situations, the bundle program invoices you for a product that does not exist, and the invoice must be paid before classes start. Then, if the consumer does not want the product, or never receives the product, the consumer must figure out how to get their money back.
From the inception of the program, I was subjected to a very aggressive marketing strategy. I was barraged with emails telling me I needed to select an option, urgent reminders to make my selection: did I want online or paper? Did I want shipping or in store pick up? Click here to make my selection. All this while charging me $20 per credit hour and promising me it was the lowest possible price, which it was not.
There was no “click here to opt out!” Never an email even stating instructions on how to opt out. Once I discovered how to opt out, the emails started new with “you may not receive your material” and “click here now.” This intense and aggressive marketing is unwarranted and unethical. For one of my classes I was billed $60 for the electronic access code—still on backorder—for a book I got off Amazon for $16. A second course, again $60, for a book I never received. I was charged $60 for a third course that has no book.
I worry about the impression we have made on our younger and newer students, ones who have not learned different options of acquiring course materials. Students that need to watch every dollar spent on education. The Bulldog Bundle is a marketing gimmick that takes advantage of their inexperience.
Further, in the Reflector article, SA president Kennedy Guest claimed that any business could have bid on the program. This is an unrealistic statement. No small ‘mom and pop’ bookstore can bid on any project at the magnitude and complexity of the bundle program. It was a project only even theoretically fulfillable by the Barnes & Noble, and even they experienced major complications and delays. The bundle program does nothing to support small American business, an important practice for those who are financially able. In fact, it gave an attempted monopoly to a billion dollar private company headquartered in the United Kingdom.
The article also mentions the Bulldog bundle program was 100% endorsed by the Student Body Association after a two-minute sales pitch. This shows a complete lack of basic critical thinking skills. Where was a questioning attitude? I expected better of the Student Body Association, and I disagree with Guest’s oversimplified defense of the mandatory automatic opt-in.
The Bulldog Bundle program removes from the student the agency to make their own choice. The extremely aggressive marketing strategy left students confused as to what their options were. Opt out instructions were never widely published. I hope that the issues with the program are addressed and MSU learns from their mistakes. A very simple solution is to allow students to opt in if they wish, rather than opt out, if only they can figure out how.