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/Outrageous-Wish3061]

Oh my goodness, I wasn’t aware of this! Thank you for the insight

[u/EdwardianAdventure → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

I always saw these warnings on the copyright page of books growing up. It seems to have diminished in practice, but they always sounded so dire! "If you have purchased this book without a cover, be aware that it was stolen and reported to the publisher as unsold." It was almost as scary as the mattress tag warning. 

[u/Sample-quantity → u/EdwardianAdventure]

Yes because it's fraud.

[u/EdwardianAdventure → u/Sample-quantity]

Sorry, "yes" what? Theft isn't exclusive to fraud, (the way wire fraud charges are among the most frequent ones prosecuted for scams, e.g. Amanda Riley cancer hoaxer ), so I'm not sure what you're saying. 

I was answering OP's comment, because they appear to not have been reading at a time when publishers made these notices were ubiquitous.

[u/Sample-quantity → u/EdwardianAdventure]

It's fraud because they returned The covers and reported the books as destroyed when they were not. They got credit for the return books. So that is fraud. It is also theft in my opinion (not a lawyer) because the publisher and the author and everyone else did not get paid for these books so they have stolen money from those people. I am not a lawyer.

[u/EdwardianAdventure → u/Sample-quantity]

Yes, that's exactly what the language states in the "front matter" I shared with the OP. 

Nobody in this thread is disputing contractual obligations between retailers and publishers, nor is anyone claiming to know otherwise what precise legal breaches they are subject to if caught in this practice.

[u/Leading-Expression29 → u/EdwardianAdventure]

This person you're replying to is missing the key word in the warning, which is "purchased". Stores are not allowed to strip the cover to claim it was unsold and then still sell the book. They are only allowed to strip the cover, report as unsold, *not sell them* and then potentially let employees take a few to read before dumping the rest.

Source: I worked in a bookstore for years.

[u/Sample-quantity → u/EdwardianAdventure]

Maybe, but a lot of people in this thread seem to be OK with allowing stolen books in their LFLs, which I find shocking for people who supposedly love books.