To throw old books into the recycling bin?

[Dixie81]

I read a lot. Almost all the books I buy are secondhand and rarely cost more than £3. I try to buy ebooks as much as possible but often the used paperback version is cheaper. I only have a small house so theres a limit to how many books I can keep and I reached that limit long ago.

The problem is trying to get rid of books I no longer want. Charity shops around here won’t take them. I tried a few online buyers but it cost more in postage, packaging and petrol than the books were worth and was far too time-consuming to deal with. They also refused to take a lot of the books and only wanted certain ones. I found one of those ‘little free libraries’ but the lady running it said they were inundated with books and having to dispose of a huge amount themselves. So I decided to put them in the recycling bin since that’s where they’ll end up anyway.

I mentioned this to my partner last night and he said it was a terrible thing to do. He thinks it’s disgraceful to throw any book out and not make the effort to pass it on to someone. I explained that I can’t find anyone who wants them but he seemed to think I should try harder regardless of the time and money it takes. For context, these are mass-produced paperbacks so I don’t see how it matters but I’m curious to hear what others think.

Our local train station has a bookcase where people can leave and borrow books for free.

A kindle sounds like a good plan for you

If OP lives "a 40 min drive to the nearest town" there probably isn't a station nearby.

If they are in good condition and popular they will. I’ve found my DD’s cheap trashy but popular novels she bought second hand often do better than my better quality more obscure books. You just scan the barcode. They’ll even come and collect a small boxful.

They won’t take damaged but list what they will reject. It’s all on the app. Also if they don’t want a title when you scan try a few weeks later. Often titles they’ve not wanted they do later due to demand.

Depends how rural op is, she said she doesnt have inpost lockers, I tried wob after recommendations from this thread, but its not doable, it rejected a few of the books, but the stopper was it only gave two postage options neither of which are available locally in my nearest town (inpost locker or collectplus stores)

If it’s over the amount they state weight wise they will collect so it’s better to do a big sale. We don’t have either of those options bar in the nearest town and they always collect from me as I wait until I have quite a load.

I doubt WoB would be interest in most of my books. They are mainly non-fiction and things like business/memoirs from people who died decades ago or dated self-help/DIY/decor/travel type books.

Well you won’t know until you scan.

Let me ask posters who advocate dumping these old read-several-times books at charity shops - how many charity shop books have you bought recently - I work in one and books arrive by the box load but are bought by the occasional one - means the rest get pulped

@TheFuturesSoBright

It's not necessarily that charities want new stuff, but some will only sell books that are in good condition in order to justify the minimum price range - which at my shop is £2.99 or occasionally £1.99 if we think it might sell but can't reasonably put it out for more.

If something is deemed in a condition such that it can't justifiably be priced at our minimum range, then it's considered not worth trying to sell at all. Especially when the charity shop is specifically a bookshop.

Doesn't solve your immediate problem but you could get a library card (or three - lots of places let you join even if you aren't local) and use Libby and Borrowbox to get digital books from the library. That should reduce your incoming books to a trickle. I used to buy secondhand as well and I went from buying nearly 100 books last year to about 2 so far this year.

I used to volunteer in a well known charity’s Bookshop. Even though we were dedicated to books, with just a small corner for fair-trade gifts, we had a whole shed out back, stuffed to bursting with repeat titles and bloody Mills & Boon (which we couldn’t give away, frankly). A lot of the stuff in the shed probably got mildew before it got sold. We obviously didn’t put any of the valuable or one-off titles in there, but if you were the 10th person to come in that week with a dog-eared copy of The Da Vinci Code, it was probably not much use to us.

I volunteered at an Oxfam bookshop for 3 years. We pulped 2/3 of the donations, unfortunately. There are so many things that just don't sell.

I would if they were priced properly. In our area they are asking for books over anything else. I can’t be arsed to drag them there though and find WOB so much better. I don’t make a lot but it’s like a collection service.

Mass produced paperbacks have a life span. The paper and the glue start to deteriorate. There's only so many times they can be passed on.

@Achi11ia

When you say properly, do you mean cheaper?

That's a shame that your manager is under so much pressure.

On a different subject, my local Oxfam used to sell fair trade chocolate. I really loved the milk chocolate orange one.
They've stopped selling them now and I can't remember the name. Did all shops sell it, and if they did do you know what they were?

Surely you could just sell the once you don't want to WOB or similar even if just for a few pence?

@Snorerephron

That would likely involve additional admin, and it's something the manager (who is probably already overwhelmed) would have to do, as I doubt volunteers would agree to take on the responsibility, even if they were allowed to.

If my experience (as a volunteer) in Oxfam bookshops is anything to go by, then the shop managers already have too much on their plates. It's easier to pulp them.

@RightOnTheEdge

To be honest, I think shop managers being under the pressure is a common thing with Oxfam shops nowadays. A lot is expected of them, with those setting the expectations often not having an awareness of the actual practicalities involved in running a shop.

I think you might be thinking of Divine chocolate?

There has recently been a lack of chocolate in my Oxfam shop (we simply weren't sent any for a while) but fortunately we recently had some arrive and now have some chocolate back on our shelves. We were glad to see this, as it does sell.

Most charity shops say they are overwhelmed with books, and don’t want any more, as most people use e-readers now.

Best to just trash them.

Oh no, that's really bad. I'm sorry it turned into a negative experience.

It was not my role to cope with this, but I can't really explain the volume of unwanted books we had to cope with. It was very depressing. Even getting someone to pick up the excess was a challenge sometimes (during Covid), and I can assure you each book was looked at and a decision made in each case- an unbelievable amount of work. There were piles of books in bad condition, or books that we're just unwanted.

I am very much against putting books in recycling unless they are totally damaged and unreadable.
Would a train station near you take the books?
How about a box outside with Free - Help Yourself on days when it is not raining?

Surely if most people use e-readers (by the way they don't), there can't be thousands of books to overwhelm them. Mark them with colour spots so you know how long they've been on the shelf and price sensibly, my local shop normally does paperbacks £1, 3 for £2, hardbacks are usually £1.50. Nobody will pay 45-50% of the new cost when you can get it new from Amazon for a pound more or for £2.89 from WOB or one of the other megalisters including postage.