If not charity shops, then where?

[TakeTheLowRoad]

Where I live, there are quite a few charity shops. I reckon there are 10.

I very rarely sell things, and often just pass them onto the charity shop.

So, yesterday I took 10 books out with me. They are young reading books, unused or very lightly used. Some very current novels, just out and just read. Excellent condition. I went to 5 charity shops where I was asked/ told; "what are they?", "we don't need books", "we have enough stuff already" and "we are not taking any more things". It is not just books either, I've taken other things and been turned away. The Dogs Trust told me they only take books about dogs.

I kind of understand, but if they don't want them, where else can I donate to? Are there any schools/ organisations that I can pass them on to? What about clothes?

Would the local library accept them?

I didn't know that charity books were so picky about books as they all seem to have them in their shops but maybe they never move. I get rid of books in book banks in supermarket car parks and the like (have a look on your local authority website if you don't know where your nearest book bank is).

We also had a mini library in a garden shed in a local country park but I think it might have gone now, I got rid of a few there.

And you could check at your local library, they may take them to add to the collection or sometimes they have book sales and will use them for that.

@reigatecastle , they can't shift them, unless they are very popular bestseller types and extremely cheap.
The dedicated book shops can charge more because they are more likely to attract bookworms

They don't seem to have much trouble shifting books here. It's a pity that isn't the case everywhere.

I had success putting a laundry bag of mine and my daughter's old and unwanted books out on the street by a phone box. Just stuck a label on it saying "free". I do live on a main London road though... So there's lots of traffic.

I take popular books like novels by well-known authors or craft books to the charity shop. Magazines, non-fiction and text-books go to the charity bookshop.

The Global Educational Trust usually has around 20 charity free bookshops around the UK. You can find them by going on Facebook and Looking for Global Educational Trust - GET Free Bookshops. If its kids books, ask at your local school as their staff are often combing charity shops looking for books as budgets have been cut so much they can't afford extra reading material for the classroom.

Sadly due to the kindle readers and people been busier nowadays books are going out of fashion

the charity shop i work at has hundreds of books and storing them is becoming a major problem even our clearance shop cant sell them fast enough at 5 for a pound so it looks like a lot of them will be going to the rag man but to me its sacralege to dispose of them this way and though i buy lots of books i cant buy all of them and then when ive read them same problem getting them out of the house back to where i bought them from

Freecycle

Local FB group

Believe me books are not going out of fashion, I volunteer with GET and with just around 20 shops across the UK we rehome over a million books a year for free. So many people love the touch, the feel, the smell and that it doesn't run out of power. We get all ages come in and we are refilling the shelves several times a day. I think a lot of it with standard charity shops its having the space for variety of choice, and most the time people stop by on the way past. With a free bookshop they make a choice for it to be a main part of their journey, if not the main goal. Our shop gets really short on Kids books, Westerns, audio books and we are always running out of Mills & Boon. I have to admit my highlight of the day is when I see a little one find a book they are after and their face just lights up with excitement and happiness.

I leave books on tubes or trains sometimes, in the hope that whoever sits on that seat will pick them up & might enjoy them.

Our local coop has a shelf