Consumers Urged to Use CAC’s Price Enquiry Tool for Textbook Purchases

The Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) is encouraging persons to use its price enquiry tool as a resource to obtain valuable information to assist in textbook purchases, in their back-to-school preparation.

Persons can access the price enquiry tool on the Commission’s website, cac.gov.jm.

Between July 29 and August 2024, the Commission visited 64 bookstores across the island and received results from 60.

Director of Communications for the CAC, Latoya Halstead, told JIS News the price enquiry tool provides a detailed list of the book merchants and prices of textbooks.

“You will see the prices of the various books right across the island and you will know where you can get those at a less expensive price,” she said.

The CAC director noted that the official annual textbook survey report should be available by the end of the week.

Ms. Halstead said the Commission’s annual textbook survey seeks to empower consumers by providing the prices of textbooks carried by merchants.

She said it is a good resource for persons seeking to save money on textbook purchases in their back-to-school preparation.

The CAC works in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Youth to compile the books included in the Commission’s annual textbook survey.

“To accomplish this, we partner with the Ministry of Education, so we can build out the survey instrument as it relates to the supplementary booklist. This survey is aimed at surveilling the most popular books,” Ms. Halstead informed.