I know we all live in different places, but I'm wondering what to do with some my mum (shock horror!) got a huge bag to toss. My issue is that last time we went to the second hand book store, they took one of our dozen offerings. So I'm disheartened. And I'm not sure (in Australia) our thrift/op shops want books. I've tried some on gumtree.com (Australia's equivalent of craigslist). But nothing seems to be 'perfect' They are older books. So maybe they just need to be recycled? Thoughts?
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Posted 1 year ago #
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That's unusual - most used bookstores insist on paying for the lot and won't tell you how much they will give for a particular book.
I've gone in numerous times with 20lbs of books and been told '10 bucks cash take it or leave it'.
Obviously this is because they usually only want one or two books and don't want you to know which ones or you'd haggle and just keep the rest.
Also, if your mum's huge bag of books is mostly serial romance, they're essentially worthless except as recycled paper, so you'd be wasting your time to try and sell them.
I say give em to friends, make one trip to the second hand store or library, and toss the rest.
Posted 1 year ago # -
My mother works at the local Lions bookshop. They are always looking for donations as they then use the funds raised for the various services this service group provides.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Just give them to the local library. Around where I live, if they don't put the donated books on the shelves, they will just sell them for a small amount and then use that money to purchase more books. Sometimes when I am trying to decide if I want to declutter a book or not, I just give it to the library so that I can get it again temporarily if I need to.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Sometimes I take books to Goodwill or Salvation Army. If I'm not going by there anytime soon, I take them to work with me and leave them in the break area. If you have some type of homeless or women's shelter, you could see if they accept them.
Or many times I'll post the books in better condition on swap.com.
Posted 1 year ago # -
As a librarian, I use donated books on Paperbackswap and Bookmooch. I turn books I don't need into books my library desperately needs. I've also used Betterworld Books for items I couldn't swap. And I've recycled plenty of books (in my town, I have to remove the paper from the covers and recycle them separately.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Thanks for all the things you've suggested, i shall investigate which of these might work for my here in Australia, but you've given me a good list to try and see which will work!
Posted 1 year ago # -
You could also make inquiries at local hospitals, as sometimes the Volunteer Guild maintains a collection of books for patients to read.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I work at a place that also takes books and have noticed a trend: Older books, 10, 20, 30 years or even more, that are not classics don't get picked up. They might have been big hits back then, but now they seem a bit outdated. If you say older books then that might be the case. But if they don't want to take them where you brought them, maybe you could ask why?
Posted 1 year ago # -
A while ago someone on here recommended http://www.bookcrossing.com/ as a way to "set books free" into the wild. You label the book then leave it in a public place (bus seat, airport, doc office, etc). You can follow the serial number on the label and see where the books end up. Might be fun to track or as just a way to get rid of them.
Also, if they are older books, perhaps a retirement or nursing home might like them.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm fortunate that my company runs a rotating-charity bookshelf. I'm not sure who the money is going to this month. Before Christmas, it was Toys-for-Tots. I've managed to give away at least 150 lbs of books so far, although I usually makes the rounds in the office to see if anyone actually wants them before they go on the $1-a-book shelf.
If you really have a lot of books to get rid of, you might even consider starting such a project on behalf of a local charity.
P.S. I thought the comment about non-classic books not getting picked up was interesting. My personal library is in transition from 500+ books, mostly paperback fiction from the past 20 years, to a small collection of treasured favorites, reference books and hardback classics. I can read the other stuff at the library or online while it is popular; I don't need to own it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
In addition to hospitals, if there are any nursing homes or veterans' hospitals or adult day care facilities in your area, they might take the books.
Last time I was visiting someone in hospital, I noticed a large bookcase in the main lobby of the hospital, where they have lots of comfortable chairs and the gift shop and a small cafe. The sign on the bookcase said that the books were there for anyone who wanted to read them--take one and enjoy it. It wasn't just for the patients, but for anyone who ended up in the hospital with nothing to read, say a parent taking a kid to the emergency room. I thought that was a good idea--the books had been collected and donated by a Girl Scout troop, and periodically they came and added more books as people took the books away.
Posted 1 year ago # -
You might want to call around used bookstores, if there are more than one in your area, and ask - I ended up using a store that took my books by the basketfull and let the store owner decide what to toss, and accepted her lower payout in return for the labor. There are maybe 15 local used book stores and only the one would do that, all the others wanted to pick out the good stuff and make me cope with the rest.
Posted 1 year ago # -
our charity shops all sell books and accept books. In fact Oxfam (one of the main charity shops) has specialist book outlets, so I often give my stuff to them. I shop there too, charity shops are excellent for children's books :)
Posted 1 year ago # -
Check with the library. If they don't want all of your donated books (some are more choosy about which they want and what they'll do with them), odds are they get a lot of questions about books people want to donate, and they should have some ideas of other places in the community who might take them.
Posted 1 year ago #
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