Makes Me Wonder

I was visited today by a book vendor that we've done business with for several years. He's a super nice guy and is usually able to cut me some pretty good deals on books we purchase from him. Today my aide asked him about a series of books that I was already planning on buying from another vendor, so I was a little annoyed at first. But then I told him I had a quote from this other company and he assured me that he could beat it. And he did.

He then proceeded to give me a great deal on the other books I was looking at ordering through him and he threw in a free book on the order (as he usually does).

As he was starting to pack up, he handed me a Halloween book as an additional freebie.

We continued to chat while he loaded books back into his containers and I ran into my office to make sure that I had received his emails with the quotes. When I returned to the table, he handed me yet another free book that I had been looking at.

I thanked him profusely as he was on his way, but I was left wondering...

Exactly how much are books marked up that our book vendor is able to give me such great discounts, beat competitors quotes, throw free books in on the orders, and still hand me two more free books as he goes out the door?