Books

[juliet]

So, I hauled 2 bags of books and a bag of random clothes & stuff down to the charity shop on Monday, only to discover that they're no longer taking donations. Bother.

I have a vague recollection that there are places online where you can give books away (other than Freecycle). Anyone able to point me in an appropriate direction?

Comments

[catsgomiaow.livejournal.com]

Noes! Which charity shop - there are a couple on Southwark Park Road (unless they've closed - the Mind and Sue Ryder ones)?

I am happy to take them up to the Oxfam book shop in Dalston, next time I visit you?

[juliet]

Sue Ryder was shut; Mind is the one that's not accepting stuff.

There's an Oxfam bookshop near work, so I could drag them in there. I might try Amazon first, actually, although not for the heavy ones (flat rate postage...). There's quite a lot so don't want to lumber you with them! Also there will doubtless be more in the future.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

What kind of charity shop doesn't take donations? The kind that's a front for the Mafia?

[juliet]

I think they're full... They haven't been taking books or kids' toys for a while (I was hoping that they might be taking books again, or that the other shop would be open).

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

This is bad business. I might go in and offer them some consultancy. If you're not paying for stock, you're a pure volume business, and being full suggests you're Doing It Wrong...

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I think charity shops are reluctant to throw out shit that wont sell. It is a shame really.

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

I can understand being reluctant to throw stuff out, but they could try making it lots cheaper (50p is better than 0p, and 50p+new stock is much better than 0p+turning new stock away - and a lot of their prices aren't actually that cheap to start with, compared to what charity shop stuff cost in my day).

I know they only have volunteers, but also if someone could do an hour sticking a little flyer through letterboxes round those bits of Bermondsey which have lots of young families saying "we have kids toys going cheap this week" or whatever. This is I'm sure the sort of thing lots of people like me who don't have the time or inclination to sit running a shop would happily do.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

Yeah - things could be done.

[juliet]

I think the trouble is that the elderly volunteers who work there just don't think like that. I think you're right, though - lower prices and higher turnover is clearly a better bet.

(I wonder if there's also an extent to which Primark et al are undercutting business. For some people, buying NEW is a very important thing.)

[lovingboth]

Yep, or reducing prices on stuff that's still there after a while...

Certain shops have a large stock of various items because they have an unrealistic view of how much it's worth.

[abi]

Bookcrossing is a fun sort of way to get rid of books. It does require you to leave them lying around in a way that always feels a bit like littering to me, though.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

H'mm, yes, dumping 20 books on a tube is probably not within the spirit of the thing. Maybe you could go along the passengers and go "one for you, one for you" until they were all gone?

[weatherpixie.livejournal.com]

I actually disposed of a bunch of books through book crossing, just on a one a day on the tube basis.

There are also book crossing points you can leave them at.

http://homepage.mac.com/pachydomo/LondonZones.htm

Dunno if any of these are reasonably close tho...

[juliet]

Oh, fabulous! There's one right by my work (at the Nat Hist Museum) so I could do that.

I've just listed a stack of things on Amazon but I doubt very much if all or even most will go. Once they're off that I'll hike them along to the NHM.

[weatherpixie.livejournal.com]

Its also quite fun tracking where the book goes, and I suspect you have a higher chance of that from a crossing point, rather than random book littering...

If you can get labels that go through printer its not at all arduous, tho I just used plain paper and pritt stick.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

Anyone want a box of kids books?

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

There's Green Metropolis which is a sell-for-£3, buy-for-£3.75 place. Not bad in my limited experience. Only works for getting rid of books that people want. But same's true for charity shops who are wise, anyway :-)

[juliet]

Cool - have just tried Amazon this time but will bear GM in mind another time. (I keep being told about it & it keeps slipping my mind at the relevant moments, bah.)

[half-of-monty.livejournal.com]

Argh - why am I reading these comments and following these links? Have now found 30 quids worth of audio books that I want!!

(Otoh could get rid of some books this way too which would be good)

[jvvw.livejournal.com]

Problem with anything that involves posting books is that the postage can get high surprisingly quickly I've found. Not so bad if you're selling the books, but if you're giving lots away, then it might end up becoming costly.

[hatmandu.livejournal.com]

I like remotegoat's ChanceXchange for this sort of thing (though the site is a bit less active than it used to be).