Library Sales
Posted by Jay on August 29th, 2008
I did something this morning that I had sworn I would never do again.
No, I didn’t drink a quart of tequila or eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. I went to a Friend of the Library (”FOL”) book sale.
Even though I sell books online, I avoid FOL book sales like the plague. At the last one I went to, in a small Connecticut library, I got blocked into the corner of a small room by about 200 raging book dealers all scouring boxes of books for a treasure or two. It took me almost an hour to get out of there!
These FOL book sales always seem to hold out so much potential — “25,000 books, not picked over!” — but the two or three that I have been to have been huge disappointments — a swarming mass of greed-driven book sellers fighting over a tiny number of saleable books. Today’s was no exception. The book sale was in Lenox, Mass, and was advertised as having “22,000 GOOD Books from Berkshire homes and Estates!” Well, it should have been advertised as “where the penny books go to die,” because that is what about 95% of the books were worth. And there couldn’t have been more than 5,000 books in the place.
I got to the book sale about an hour before it started, and was given a number (#47). By the time the sale started there were probably 200 people in line. All 200 people were inside the library within 5 minutes, swooping in front of me and trying to push me out of the way in order to grab my little pile. Not a good idea, as I’m 6′0 and 230 lbs, and can knock people over without even trying.
What I especially dislike is that people will run around grabbing armloads of books, and then hoard them in a corner — hundreds of them, so that they can go over them with their book scanners. Then they just leave the books they don’t want sitting there, forcing the volunteers to put their discards back on the tables.
Within fifteen minutes the place had been picked clean. I managed to get about 20 books, including a couple of good finds ($100+), but all and all it was not worth the drive or the aggravation. I do better riding around my neighborhood on my bike and finding books on the street, and have more fun too.
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August 31st, 2008 at 12:10 am
People can be really annoying sometimes - I get the impression you really enjoy the side business of selling books. Don’t let the fact that some people are nothing more than dumb shits get in the way of that. And being I’m 6′2″ and about 215 I know what you mean about being able to knock people back… use it when they’re being stupid. Just remember as long as the trip pays for itself and you make a bit of money that trip means you’re that much closer to your goal of liberation from the soul sucking office.