T.I.S planners not issued this year

When sophomore Kristi Sanborn went to T.I.S. Bookstore to buy her books two weeks ago, she assumed she would be able to get one of the free planners that had been distributed over the past few years. \nShe was wrong.\n"I thought I would be covered this year going to T.I.S. and I would have a planner. Nope -- didn't happen," she said. "And when I asked a staff member, they wouldn't even give me a straight answer on why they didn't have them anymore." \nT.I.S. General Manager Greg Lloyd said the store started giving out free planners back in the 1970s but stopped this year because he felt there was less of an interest on the part of students. \n"We didn't hand out the planners because it seemed to be dying off and ... people weren't as interested," he said. "In the past few years we've found a lot of planners in the trash can."\nLloyd also said he hadn't heard many complaints from students about the lack of free planners.\nSanborn then tried to get one from the IU Bookstore in the Indiana Memorial Union three days before classes began, but there were none available. She said the bookstore staff told her they would not be ordering any more.\nIU Bookstores Director Paul Hazel said the store handed out just as many planners as in years past.\n"We did not decrease the number from the last three years," he said. "We had 20,000 and it's been so successful that everyone wants them."\nThe IU Bookstore partners with the IU Credit Union in splitting the cost of the planners to avoid having to use full advertisements to pay for them.\nLloyd said for T.I.S., advertising was a large issue when it came down to deciding whether or not to hand out the planners this year. \n"We want student feedback on this obviously," he said. "We did focus groups and students wanted less advertising -- they wanted the planner to be exclusively for them." \nAdvertising, however, is necessary in order to cover the cost of making the planners. T.I.S. instead opted for "20 percent" off coupons on all the planners it sells.\nThe IU Bookstore on the other hand plans to continue to hand out free planners next year, Hazel said.\n"We are happy about the success of the planner," he said. "It is something the students use and that is what we want from it."\nStill, for the time being, many students are still without a planner. \n"I was actually upset that I didn't get one," said senior Josh Taff. "I still don't have a planner -- I was counting on it, but they didn't put one in my bag this year."\n-- Contact staff writer Laura Lacci at llacci@indiana.edu.