Jetline, which has 43 branches throughout South Africa, is looking to address students' problems with affordable accessing of textbooks and other resources that they require for their studies.
More than most other places in the country, George and South Africa's city centres are teeming with books.
Almost all of them, however, are locked up in commercial book stores, out of the reach and budget of those who need them most.
Jetline has recently signed up with Paperight, a Cape Town-based start-up that allows any copy shop to legally print books for their customers on demand, to help alleviate this problem.
The owner of Jetline George, Greig Fleet said: Jetline hopes to address the issue of unaffordable books by deciding to slash printing prices for students printing books or other documents through Paperight. Students can now print their choice of hundreds of books and other documents on demand for only 50c per double-sided A4 page, half the price of the average photocopy, at Jetline George. Understanding the current crises in distribution of educational material throughout South Africa, Jetline hopes to prove that money can be made by simply making books cheaper for urban students."
Fleet confirmed that Arthur Attwell, Paperight's CEO and Founder, said that the offshoot of this is that Jetline will achieve the high volume of printing jobs needed to allow them to offer such low printing charges to their customers. "It's a cycle that benefits everyone in the long-term, but it requires a small leap of faith to kick start it. By doing this, Jetline is vividly illustrating their determination to address George and the whole of South Africa's problems in effectively distributing educational material."
A university staple such as The Great Gatsby can cost R80-R120 in a commercial bookstore. Through Jetline, a Paperight edition of the same book can cost as little as R40. Jetline is also reducing delivery costs of printed Paperight documents for customers in remote areas, meaning that students don't have to live in the city to take advantage of Jetline's price cuts.
Jetline George, on the corner of York and CJ Langenhoven Street, part of a progressive copy shop chain, making books more affordable. Photo: Christo Vermaak
