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I was asked to purchase a new piano book for my daughter. No local stores carried it, so faced with a shipping fee, I emailed her teacher and asked if there was anything else my daughter might need.

She was sweet enough to email me the next 2-3 years of books.

It's funny how a parent looks at the next 3 months and how a teacher has a much broader vision.

Hm..., to me, this looks a bit strange. What, if - let's say - in a year, the teacher decides to start using other books, because your daugther's development asks for a change...? What, if your daughter (let's hope not) would loose interest in piano playing...? What, if your daughter would have to change her teacher and the new teacher would want to use other books?

You don't seem to be very comfortable with ordering the next 2-3 years of books for your daughter right now. I recommend to only get books to last about the next year. So, you can save some of the shipping fee, but still feel safe... And your daughter might be excited to see what's coming after her present book.

I usually give 6 months of books for parents to purchase. Some parents ask more, then I give 1 year.
I think 2 to 3 years are too much to purchase.

That's quite funny, actually. I don't know if that's a good thing though.

She's really confident that your daughter will be staying with her (and with piano), but it sounds like she's 'locked in' with a certain curriculum. (What if your daughter's playing changes in some way, to be more suited for another curriculum?)

I'm sure your daughter's teacher knows better than any of us do. I think that was good of her to do.

It's not for the curriculum books. It's for "extras".

She is doing a method/curriculum, but she has never asked me to purchase that set ahead of time (Alfred).

She did ask me to buy the theory method books in advance this winter (ABRSM) - but that was because the studio had one set of 4 or 5 books on hand and she progresses pretty quickly in theory. I don't think many of the kids use this theory set, I think most use Alfred.

I only purchased the books she can use now from the list - mostly due to the expense. If I buy the next sets, I can do that after my next pay day and be one level ahead.

You mention having to pay the shipping fee, but if you order from an online company based out of a different state, you won't have to pay sales tax, so it usually amounts to the same as buying from your local store.

In my state, and I believe in many states, the state sales tax is in fact still due on out-of-state mail-order purchases, but you pay it in a lump sum with your income taxes rather than it being collected and submitted by the vendor. The state provides a default amount to use as an estimate based on your income, or you can calculate it explicitly. You can claim 0, but I prefer to pay it.

I ended up on amazon and they now charge sales tax. My gf has prime so there ended up not being a shipping fee and 2 day delivery. But tax was less than shipping on other sites so it still worked out (esp with fast shipping).

I left something out in my comment about taxes: in my state, you're only liable for the amount of state sales tax above the amount you may have already paid to another state. That's why this typically kicks in on mail-order items, but not items purchased in-person in another state.

MaggieGirl, glad you were able to get your daughter's music.

It is worth checking at www.paperbackswap.com for used books. There are a LOT of books there and I have gotten some good ones for free.

As for buying books 2-3 years out, I wouldn't do it, you don't know if the student's musical interest might change, they might decide they want to learn some different style of music. I'd rather pay shipping and get the right book than avoid shipping but buy a book that turned out not to be used.

Well, MaggieGirl, I get your point. As a student, my time horizon has been slow to grow beyond 3 months. Meanwhile, I'm sure my teacher thinks more in terms of a 3 year time frame.