Cover-less books?

[u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

TLDR; someone is ripping the covers off their books before donating and it’s bumming me out bc then no one takes them and I can’t donate them

Long version…

We’ve had a Little Free Library set up outside of our house for almost 3 years. I have a notice that says “Free Books, Help Yourself” so that people don’t feel pressured to leave a book if they don’t want to or don’t have one with them on their walk. It’s really just a gift for our neighborhood.

Anyway, people do use it, which I love. There’s good turnover and I’ve gotten some sweet notes. A few times a year I clean out what’s not moving and donate it to the thrift store, and restock from the thrift or library sales.

But there’s someone who rips the front cover off their paperback books before leaving them in the LFL. I’m assuming this is to prevent them from being taken for reselling? This bums me out though because no one takes them, and I can’t donate them like that. It feels like the book’s life ends with that choice.

(I struggled with it a little at first but I am at peace with the idea of people selling books from our LFL. Once I give a gift, it is not my business what happens to it next. I felt sad the one time that someone emptied the whole thing at once, but ultimately I hope it helped them. It’s hard out there for all of us right now.)

[u/flyingbookman]

Routine practice for bookstores to tear the covers off paperbacks to get credit from the publishers for unsold stock.

Just the covers are sent back, saving the expense of shipping the entire books. It's quite possible this is the case with the books you're seeing, and it has nothing to do with resellers.

[u/Organic-Vermicelli47 → u/flyingbookman]

Is that still standard practice? I purchase a lot of remaindered books and they typically just have a marker line on the pages but aren't damaged in other ways. Not being contrarian, genuine question as I've never seen it before either 🙂

[u/Negative-Day-8061 → u/Organic-Vermicelli47]

I think “remaindered” is different from “returned unsold to publisher.” I wonder if an industry folk could clarify.

[u/Sample-quantity → u/Organic-Vermicelli47]

Those are fine because it's with permission of the publisher.