i know this because i tried to be slick and buy my cousin's math book for her off Amazon
nope nope
that $125 book is good or only ONE USE because each book contains a code to access the homework problems online

this was at Stephen F Austin by the way

but yeah, i feel you
and until i ran into this problem last year i'd say the same

oh, that math book was written by the professor who taught the course and was the dept chair so basically dude was making $125 per student he had enrolled in his class on top of his salary

and the book was really some bullshit pamphlet he had his assistants xerox using the schools paper/toner