When you move, what do you do with all those books?

When my partner and I moved successful together, we didn’t conscionable person to harvester furnishings and posters and clothing but besides 2 very ample collections of books. Those collections person grown considerably since then, and should we ever person to make a move again, we’ll person a existent problem connected our hands. What to do pinch each those books?

Unfortunately, because truthful galore group are now reference connected phones, tablets, aliases portable reference devices for illustration a Kindle, it tin consciousness much difficult than it utilized to beryllium to waste aliases springiness distant beingness books. But location are still places retired location wherever you tin walk connected your utilized books. Here are immoderate ways you tin move your reference worldly on to personification else.

Sell books online

One solution is to waste your books. The first spot you mightiness deliberation of is done a tract specified arsenic Amazon, but that tin get some analyzable and frustrating. As an individual (as opposed to a business), you person to group up a seller’s relationship and salary Amazon 99 cents per book, a referral interest of 15 percent of nan trading price, and a closing interest of $1.80 per item. 

Luckily, location are alternatives. For example, astatine Powell’s, you participate nan ISBN and nan information of nan book(s), and you get backmost a quote. You past message nan books to them and reap your reward via PayPal. (Although it whitethorn not beryllium worthy nan problem — for a like-new difficult transcript of nan 2010 caller All Clear by Connie Willis, I was offered $1.67.) AbeBooks is besides a celebrated spot to look for utilized books, but it deals chiefly pinch master sellers; fees for trading commencement astatine $25 a month.

If you person caller textbooks you don’t request anymore — and we each cognize really costly those tin get — you tin effort GoTextbooks. BookScouter will show you nan prices offered by a assortment of booksellers, on pinch personification ratings, and you tin take which 1 to waste to. 

Try utilized bookstores

Once upon a time, galore cities and towns had bookstores that specialized successful collecting and trading utilized books. Depending connected wherever you live, location whitethorn still beryllium shops that will either salary for utilized books, judge them for shop credit, aliases conscionable return them disconnected your hands. 

For example, Don Blyly runs Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore successful Minneapolis and says, “People are still buying and reference hardcover and softcover books.  I estimate that astir 3/4 of nan books leaving nan shop are utilized books.” He adds that group often spell to utilized bookstores not conscionable to prevention money but to find out-of-print books by authors they person precocious discovered.

In NYC, you tin effort nan well-known Strand bookstore, wherever you tin get rate aliases shop in installments for up to 40 books. The Housing Works Bookstore Cafe accepts utilized books and clothing to thief support group pinch HIV aliases AIDS. And astatine Sweet Pickle Books, if you donate books successful person, you tin speech them for a jar of, yes, homemade pickles. 

In different areas, you tin spot if 1 of nan galore Half Price Books stores is located adjacent you; bring your books location and spot what they’ll offer.

There are moreover quirky sources specified arsenic Connecticut’s The Traveler Restaurant, which offers free books pinch each repast (and will return your excess books arsenic well).

Libraries

Libraries person traditionally been bully places for group to unload books they nary longer want. Many still return utilized books that they past adhd to their collections, waste for other cash, aliases springiness away. Unfortunately, since nan commencement of nan covid-19 pandemic successful 2020, immoderate person stopped that practice, truthful it’s a bully thought to cheque pinch your library’s website aliases telephone up to make judge they judge donations. 

Little Free Library 

If you person immoderate clip connected your hands, you tin build your ain library. Little Free Library is simply a programme that helps individuals put up their ain “take a book, time off a book” container correct extracurricular their homes, stores, aliases wherever they person permission. The Little Free Library site provides each nan accusation basal to either commencement a book distributing programme aliases find 1 successful your vicinity wherever you tin driblet disconnected a fewer of your own. (There’s moreover a mobile app.)

Charities that judge book donations

There are still a number of charities that whitethorn return books, specified arsenic Goodwill and The Salvation Army aliases akin thrift stores. Whether they return books and what benignant of books they judge tin alteration based connected location, truthful cheque pinch your nearest thrift shop aliases do a hunt online.

Other possibilities include:

And finally, if nary of these activity for you, immoderate of my neighbors simply put a container of books extracurricular their location for passersby to cheque out. Just make judge it’s not going to rain.

If thing else, recycle nan paper

If thing other works, past it’s clip to see recycling. As overmuch arsenic nan thought of pulping a book feels, well, wrong, it’s amended to recycle nan insubstantial than to conscionable nonstop it to nan section dump. 

Before dropping your books successful your insubstantial recycling bin, make judge you understand what’s accepted by your section recycling center. For nan astir part, paperback books are fine. However, hardcover books are not; nan covers are not mostly manufactured solely of insubstantial and are truthful not recyclable — you’ll person to propulsion retired nan pages.

You tin get much accusation connected recycling books at a tract called Earth911 or, again, from your section recycling center. 

And now that you’ve sold, fixed away, aliases recycled your aged books — well, you’ve sewage room for caller ones, right?