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Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

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Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#61

Post by llimllib »

AlexMuir wrote: post #5

I thought about building a system for charity/thrift stores that let them scan in the ISBN of every book donated. I'd run a central database so you could search for a book and see where it's in stock in your city. Likewise could set alerts for when a given book is donated - and helps store to price books appropriately. I decided it was unlikely that people would find the books they wanted in their city so it's pointl…

I used to work for a company that scans books donated to Goodwill/etc on a very large scale. They buy books from thrift stores and library systems by the ton, and have an automated process to scan them and determine if they're valuable or not.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#62

Post by latch »

Enjoyed this a lot. Its a great story that stands on its own.

Having said that, a part of me wants more details about the business...avg/min/max markup, avg/min/max time to resell, insurance cost (if any), markup on shipping. % of online business (or is 100% amazon (probably))....

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#63

Post by pyre »

muhfuhkuh wrote: post #57
Lazlo_Nibble wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's doing solitary piecework that requires absolutely nothing from him other than his physical presence. Find the bar code, scan it, save or discard based on the result, over and over again. It's on roughly the same intellectual level as stuffing envelopes for a living. Were I in his shoes, I wouldn't just feel bad about it, I'd find it soul-destroying .

"solitary piecework that requires absolutely nothing from him other than his physical presence" Wow, that's not how I see it at all. I mean, if you remove the entire technological aspect with his setup and the gut determinations he makes on book values besides, then I guess oil discovery and drilling is just being there while a machine drills you into riches. Just because repetition is boring to you doesn't mean the…

Monotonous work can be soul-destroying, but it just depends on your level of interest and excitement. Doing monotonous busy-work that you hate day-in and day-out is soul-destroying.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#64

Post by fr0sty »

SageRaven wrote: post #38
blacksmythe wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I view what he is doing as recycling - getting used books to people who want them most. Shredding your books is not doing anyone any good.

As I said, the paper (books, bills, junk mail, printouts etc.) gets shredded and used for animal bedding, which then goes into the compost pile. This kind of localized recycling has all kinds of environmental benefits, including the enrichment of my garden soil, which reduces water used for irrigation and improves my home-grown produce.

Yes, but shredding your books instead of donating them just to spite a reseller seems like sour grapes regardless of the justification.

I agree that there is a temptation to wonder 'what if' about some young starry-eyed dreamer who may stumble upon a book who has instead had that chance snatched from him and will now turn to a life of crime but the reality is the book is far more likely headed for the trash heap than to a loving home. That being the case, it is far preferable to have the book go to a reseller and on to someone who wants it.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#65

Post by _delirium »

ryanpetrich wrote: post #47
angusgr wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an admirable idea, but I can't help but think of the number of CDs I've bought at used record stores with "Not For Resale" stickers still affixed. Label review samples that had gone into the second hand channel just fine. Also I know from experience that used book sellers will often quite happily clip or black out portions of the frontispiece or half-title page if they need/want to. Collectible book dealers a…

I think the first-sale doctrine might make that sticker a mere suggestion.

If the copy was acquired through some private, contracted method the first-sale doctrine might not apply. For example, if you're given a private review copy of a book under a no-sale contract that you agree to, that's enforceable, at least in theory, and the first-sale doctrine doesn't apply. However it's pretty hard to police, and almost all the policing effort that anybody does expend is pre-release, to try to track down people trying to sell review copies on eBay before the street date; nobody spends much effort tracking down people who then sold those review copies 5 years later.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#66

Post by cjy »

I can totally relate to this article. My college library would sell books it got from estate sales but didn't want. I would hang out in the library with my laptop looking up ISBNs on amazon. I found a few gems and sold a cake decorating handbook for $150. I can identify with the feeling of shame. I think it is a noble job, but something felt wrong about skimming books only for their monetary value. It was an irrational emotion, but it was hard to shake.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#67

Post by johnwatson11218 »

llimllib wrote: post #59
tjr wrote: post #18

Semi-related: a few days ago I took two boxes of old computer and math books to a local Half-Price Book store. They don't usually offer a whole lot of money for such things, and I had been thinking of donating the books to the public library, but the library didn't seem interested in what I had. I figured I might as well get a few dollars rather than just throw them out. As expected, after about ten minutes of sortin…

Are you in Maryland? (I helped to start a half-price book store, just curious if it's the company I used to work for)

No, that bookstore is in Portland, Oregon.

Re: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman

#68

Post by Tichy »

SageRaven wrote: post #28
edfrtghjkjh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually of benefit - there is a book out there that I want but it's hidden in a library or garage sale in a city 1000mi away. This guy makes it available for me to buy at a price I set on Amazon - rather than the book ending up in the trash and me not having what I want.

Depends on perspective, I suppose. It can be a detriment to the local market. I frequent a local thrift store (Deseret Industries, run by the LDS church), where I always quickly scan all 6 book shelves. Every morning (that I've been there that early), there's one dude that rushes his way to the "new" book shelves (the ones that were just rolled out of the back and not yet sorted onto the shelves), towing a cart, and…

If you are concerned about that, why not donate one of those book scanner thingies to the thrift store. Then they can set the prices accordingly, and become uninteresting to the book scanners.
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