Here’s a conundrum that irks me; it shouldn’t be a conundrum at all. Up in the loft I have the best part of a metric tonne of books that need to go to a new home. There’s a huge range of material; stripy Faber paperback novels, orange fifties Penguin novels, piles of choice Sci-Fi, lots of lovely old reference books, huge Dorling Kindersley doorstep coffee table tomes, history and geography books on a variety of themes, historical atlases, collections of photographs, all sorts of glories. The only common theme is that I’ve chosen to acquire them over the years. Now they have to go, so that I can reclaim the loft space for more recent “stuff”.
There seem to be a limited number of ways in which to achieve this:
1) bung them in a skip.
2) identify someone or somewhere specific who will really benefit from them.
3) give them to a charity shop.
The first option is just not on. I’d rather saw off my own arms than just trash them. My enlightenment genes would rebel and my eyes would explode if I treated any books with contempt. I can’t even fold over the corner of a page; I’d come out in hives.
The second option, which sounds like the best possible outcome, is obviously quite a difficult thing to do; I can’t advertise them, “Prove to me that you’re a worthy recipient of my boundless beneficence and I will deliver to you a small personally assembled library of great intellectual and social historical worth.”.
The fall-back position, I suppose, is option the third, but sadly I have a real problem with that option too.
This last year, on an almost daily basis, I’ve seen the charity book shops in Bath, a wealthy middle-class haven in the hinterland between the commuter belts orbiting the Great Wen and the bleak forgotten lands of the real South West. These places are obviously paying humongous rents for occupying their Georgian splendour, and the volunteers that work in them have all benefited from the sorts of education that are only two-a-penny in the Halls of Westminster. These organisations have Boards Of Directors. They have Committees with Chairpeople. They pay big salaries. They are starting to smack of a racket. I’m not sure I wish to gift them a couple of hundred quid’s worth of fine literature and pristine reference material, not because I don’t think their charities will bring benefit to those who need it, but because a sliver, quite a chunky sliver I suspect, of that benefit will also accrue to the professional charridy types who run them. Not to mention that I suspect some charity shops will smile sweetly, accept the books and then resort to flogging them for pulp; back to the first option, but the long way round.
So, dear Afterworder, can you save me from the need to carry out extensive further research, can you end my philosophical torment and RECOMMEND A CHARITY TO WHOM I CAN GIVE THE WHOLE BLOODY LOT, safe in the knowledge that some oily toe-rag won’t pocket a fat slice of the action, and that the books will be sympathetically sold on to real customers and not just pulped?
Well if you ain`t gonna drive up to Harkonnen Towers with `em I reckon it`s The Olde Charity Shoppe, not a feckin` skip!
Edit: I`ve just read the bit underneath your initial comments Wolfie, it does seem some charities are run that way but surely some of the lesser local charities can benefit. The local Hospice maybe? Don`t put `em in a bloody skip. My son lives in Bristol can he pick the Sci-Fi books for me?
Perhaps give them to some of the smaller charities? Local hospices or animal shelters often have just one shop, no massive organisation behind them just a few people giving up their time.
“New Hope” in Watford is a local organisation to help the growing number of local homeless people. They have local hostels for emergency accommodation and assist in finding longer-term housing and provide ongoing support for their clients. 373 people last year, of which 280 stayed in their professionally-staffed accommodation. They help their clients find work or training and refer people to other organisations when they need more specialised assistance. Founded originally by local Christians from the parish church, they don’t judge or preach, they just do what needs to be done to help people. They have a sizeable shop selling clothes, books, records/CDs etc. and small electrical stuff. I pass on my Winter Heating Allowance money to them every year.
I would have thought there would be similar organisations with their own shops in your area, if you knew about them. Such organisations don’t tend to have or particularly want the profile of the major charities.
When I posted my own ‘books in a skip’ blog @dodger-lane said that Cancer research would take large donations to a central warehouse (they’re one of the biggest of the big charities of course, but surely better than letting books go to landfill).
Oh God, I remember your post well; I read it with growing alarm as I realised that I had to find an alternative to a skip or I’d wither and die, shrivelling into a little vibrant green pool of strangely smelling jelly.
I also realised with horror that I could never set them out at a car boot sale and expect to actually part with them one at a time as suggested elsewhere. I’m only a few minutes away from the regular big boot at Castle Combe that’s mentioned elsewhere on this page, but I couldn’t bear to watch them go, each looking at me beseechingly as some lesser bibliophile stuffed them carelessly into a Lidl carrier bag alongside their sandwiches and a damp bottle of pop.
I had screaming nightmares about some grunting bloke in trackie bottoms cramming a disintegrating handful of doner kebab into his gob with one greasy hand while reaching for a pristine copy of a gorgeous £30 tome of black and white photographs of the Shackleton expedition (yes, that’s one that has to go; it’s fecking huge) with the other equally oleaginous extremity.
Yep, Cancer Research do take books although it does depend on how they are organised locally and whether they have collectors. There are two other charities that might help; Book Aid – http://www.bookaid.org – who I used to donate to, but they don’t want to be a repository for crap and they prefer up to date stuff as they are a development charity, and maybe there’s an Oxfam bookshop near you but they can be bloody sniffy. If that fails, hospices always welcome books for their fairs and stuff. I always go for Cancer Research for personal reasons and hospices because the latter are always so appreciative and have the feeling that my contribution actually helps. Have a look at book crossing, not for the whole lot though – http://www.bookcrossing.com
Oxfam book shops will take what they are given. It might well be that those of the least value or not deemed to be in saleable condition don’t appear on their shelves, but they will be passed on to other Oxfam shops in the area. The volunteers in the book shops will hopefully have specialist knowledge and price them at a realistic value, rather than £1 each regardless.
I don’t remember the precise percentage of the money received that goes into administration and running the charity, but it is in single figures.
Offer to local school/church for next fund raiser?
Batch up and stick on eBay?
Freecycle?
Car boot sale?
Oxfam are quite structured about books, especially collectables, with their dedicated book shops.
Requires a bit of effort but could you car boot them and donate the proceeds? We used to do a couple of car boots a year and flogged loads of stuff including books, 50p for a paperback, £1 hardback. I used to travel abroad a lot for work in those days and got through lots of books.
I believe Suffolk is good for boot fairs, just watch out for the lady rummaging through the records.
*thwack*
Good suggestions here, thanks; I’m in the same position as VV.
Well, I would happily take the SF off you, but I am not sure I am a good cause!
Re the wider issue of charity shops, yes some will be creamed off in admin, but if, say, only £1.50 from a £2 book (figure off the top of my head, no real idea) goes to direct use, well that’s still £1.50 that the cause of your choice wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Stick them on ebay as a job lot (or a series of smaller lots), to be collected only. Give the money to charidee of choice (although this could also be fraught with stressing about which one is best).
Got any records up there? 🙂
Edit: One of my sisters manages a charity shop. Only the mingingest unsellable books get pulped, and even then they get a few pennies that way.
Your local Yellow Pages or free community magazine probably has someone advertising for old books.
I contacted one of these when I cleared my mum’s house after she died. I thought he might want to cherry pick but he took the whole lot – only paid me about £30 but still… He said there were only a few he’d actually sell on, but what he couldn’t he passed on to local care homes and hospitals for the benefit of residents/patients. Seemed like a fair deal.
It’s a pity that Julian House don’t still have their fortnightly bookshop. What about other locals such as Dorothy House or the air ambulance? Local car boots where you could do well are Bath racecourse or the monthly one at Castle Combe. eBay might be ok via the job lots category – with ‘buyer collects’ as the only shipping option
I’ll call Julian House – they are organising a “sleep out” sometime soon to raise funds and awareness – the number of peeps sleeping rough in Bath seems to have rocketed this last 12 months – perhaps they can take the lot and do a one-off.
I’ll have a word in Dorothy House in Bath next week, too; thanks for the suggestion. Gawd knows I’ve bought enough from them over the years…. they’d probably get a few back that came from there in the first place. It’s a terribly dangerous place to while away a half hour at lunchtime….
There’s the Women’s Refuge shop in Walcot Street -no flashy overheads there. Or take some to Skoobs in the market and donate whatever you get direct?
I’ll see if I can find the Refuge shop – good call, thanks. I had considered Skoobs, but just getting them there would be a nightmare inside the market, and they would probably blanche and hide at the sight of me approaching with a pallet loader wobbling along laden to the gills.
Round these parts, scattered across Bonn, we have several outdoor cabinets with shelves, where you can drop off your unwanted books, and browse for ones you might like to take. We are lucky enough to have one right outside our front door (see this site for a picture – http://foldingbike-brompton.blogspot.de/2011/10/short-ride-in-bonn-public-book-box-and.html).
Not much use if that option isn’t open to you, I know, but maybe it’s a good German idea that might spread across to the UK. Although, given the current climate, maybe not
I like that idea. It has started to happen in London as well; a few tube stations and there’s a company around the back of London Bridge that do it as well. Don’t recall the details though.
A few in Australia too. Good idea but obviously not for huge amounts.
Try rest homes/retirement villages/whatever you call them. My 90 year old Mum is a voracious reader and every now and then checks out the library where she lives just in case someone’s put something new and readable there
An interesting point about charities and salaries , but the problem is that some of them are dealing with very large sums of money and other resources. And if you want that done properly, you end up paying close to market rates for the jobs. It would be nice to think that there are people who will work as accountants, for example, for a low salary. But the way the world is, most people will have mortgages and dependents and want to own cars and go on holidays. They might not want the highest salaries, and may well be motivated by working for a charity that supports a cause that means something to them. It’s just that the recruitment market shows that there are very few people who are self-abnegating to do it for a fraction of the money they could earn elsewhere.
I worked for a charity for about a few years ago, and one thing that they were trying to do was professionalise a number of the functions, simply because the amateur approach wastes money. Being well-meaning , and probably retired or young and inexperienced, doesn’t necessarily make you good at your job.
I wouldn’t say that all of the salaries can be justified, and I know of some pretty incompetent people in the sector, just as there are any other. But charities are much more of a business than is sometimes thought – when I met fundraisers, it was like hearing marketing staff in other organisations. The money has to keep coming in, or the whole thing goes under.
I’ve read some frightening things in Private Eye vis-a-vis charity executives. I know they need to pay accountant’s rates to be sure of getting a decent accountancy service, they pay their tradespeople the going rate as they should, and ditto other strands of the operation like logistics and (wipes mouth, licks lips) marketing. But the chief exec? Why the feck does a charity’s chief executive need to be on a par with Fred the Shred? There are people taking the proverbial in the charity sector, there doesn’t seem to be much doubt.
Another factor is the time it takes up from your life to do a good professional standard job.
If you also have a living to earn.
There is an alternative. Keep ’em. I’ve long ago had to move into the shed in order to accommodate a house full of books, CDs and films. Books in particular – can’t bear to part.
The shed’s full. And the garage. And the garage loft.
Rent a storage container, assuming you have the space, and combine it as a storage space and man shed.
Yes, garden building! Lay Z Boy massage chair…..
When I was gearing up to go to Oz I took several car loads (literally) to the local Cancer Research warehouse. No idea what happened to them after that of course, but it made me feel better. Most of them had been in storage for 5 years anyway…
Most books given to charities, particularly small charities, will be sent for recycling as they don’t sell fast enough. As you know, some of the bigger charities have the resources to sift through them centrally and or/ have dedicated stocks. They will in all likelihood get rid of a fair amount of it. The reason some of the shops are sniffy( as someone described it earlier) is that they often have a fair idea as to what will and won’t sell. This is often different from the perception of the person who is donating them.
That’s true. Which is why charity/op shops are no longer the happy hunting ground for old books they used to be. Da Vinci Code/ 50 Shades of Grey/Harry Potter, no problem.
un-hear, un-hear!
That’s a depressing thought, Mike.
Maybe Ernie has a point. If you are donating books, give them to a big charity and they might reach a good home.
We have a charity shop in our local square and I’ve found some wonderful things there. I think a lot of people donate directly to the shop and they put things straight onto the shelves and sell at a low price. Maybe by keeping your price low and having a lot of turnover, you encourage a potential reader to take a chance?
Dude,that was painful. Don’t do it again.