[Tsundoku]

No secondhand/charity shops in the region?

[HoosierDaddy]

Goodwill and Salvation Army will except drop offs at their collection sites. Maybe a library will take them as well.

This post has been edited by HoosierDaddy: Yesterday, 01:38 PM

[QuickTidal]

JPK, on 26 November 2024 - 04:05 AM, said:

Briar King, on 26 November 2024 - 03:51 AM, said:

And here is me debating on throwing away those Feist I own as the computer room is slowly becoming my son’s den and room is being made. Way too many bins of books with not enough cases to put them on. The Expanse books are likely going in the trash soon to.

Don't you have somewhere you can donate them to?

Wanna hear something funny? In preparation for the move I went through and purged a bunch of my books that I knew I'd never read again and didn't want to keep (probably 150?) and then I went to figure out where to donate them. Now, I live in like the most populous city in the country, so you'd figure this would be easy right?

Salvation Army: I called, and the guy said that I could bring them, but that 90% of the books they receive go right into the dumpster.

Toronto Public Library: Wont accept used books (a statement which baffled the fuck out of me).

Old Age Homes, Long Term Care homes: Said they'd didn't have the capacity to hold any influx of books.

Hospitals: Same as LTCH's, no capacity to house used books for patients.

BMV (our main used book store): They would not take 90% of what I had.

In fact the ONLY place that said they would take the books as a donation was Criminal Youth Detention Centres...so I called.....they said they didn't have the capacity to hold any more books.


So I ended up recycling them...which means they will almost certainly end up in a landfill in Malaysia and not at all recycled.


So now I'm completely at odds with donating books since trying to do so got me nowhere but frustrated.

EDIT: There is one of those little street/neighborhood tiny library boxes outside my kids school, and I had a bunch of MMPB copies of Tad Williams books I'd replaced in hardcover/large trade softcovers, so I put those in there as it seemed sacredligous to throw out Tad's books....but otherwise the rest went into a recycle dumpster in my condo.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: Yesterday, 02:03 PM

[worry]

QuickTidal, on 26 November 2024 - 02:00 PM, said:

Toronto Public Library: Wont accept used books (a statement which baffled the fuck out of me).

That's wild. The library here doesn't accept used books for circulation, but they do have a bookshop for fundraising that certainly accepts them. I'd be surprised if a big city library didn't do that too.

[HoosierDaddy]

worry, on 26 November 2024 - 02:18 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 26 November 2024 - 02:00 PM, said:

Toronto Public Library: Wont accept used books (a statement which baffled the fuck out of me).

That's wild. The library here doesn't accept used books for circulation, but they do have a bookshop for fundraising that certainly accepts them. I'd be surprised if a big city library didn't do that too.

That's what I was thinking.

[QuickTidal]

worry, on 26 November 2024 - 02:18 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 26 November 2024 - 02:00 PM, said:

Toronto Public Library: Wont accept used books (a statement which baffled the fuck out of me).

That's wild. The library here doesn't accept used books for circulation, but they do have a bookshop for fundraising that certainly accepts them. I'd be surprised if a big city library didn't do that too.

HoosierDaddy, on 26 November 2024 - 02:37 PM, said:

worry, on 26 November 2024 - 02:18 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 26 November 2024 - 02:00 PM, said:

Toronto Public Library: Wont accept used books (a statement which baffled the fuck out of me).

That's wild. The library here doesn't accept used books for circulation, but they do have a bookshop for fundraising that certainly accepts them. I'd be surprised if a big city library didn't do that too.

That's what I was thinking.

Yeah it was the bookshop that said they wouldn't accept them...and my initial thought was just that they would end up as library copies, but nope not that or selling them.

And funnily enough they have a "donation" wing of the TPLhere, but it doesn't accept books, just monetary donations...they'll sell you merch though...

Here's the page about donation books and the "store"

Notice the particulars (which I clarified when I phoned to ask):


- Branches only accept material that can be resold (so nothing to replenish the shelves apparently, just shit they can sell)
- Material must be in very good condition and less than five years old (I asked what "VG condition" was as I had at least a few books that were more recent that 5 years old and was told that if it didn't look brand new, they'd likely discard it and not bother)


There is also this: Check out the City of Toronto Waste Reduction Information for information about donating other materials to other non-profit organizations. With a link to the page that suggested everywhere else I might donate them...all of which I tried and reached dead ends sadly.

I would say only 5% of the 150 books I discarded were less than 5 years old, and maybe half in a shape that could be called VG/almost new as opposed to well read but still in great shape.


All of which made me so disappointed in the Toronto Public Library.

[Tiste Simeon]

We have a range of options for old books, including charity shops and donation bins at the local supermarket etc. the library doesn't have a used bookshop attached to it and won't take donations, but there's plenty of places I can put them.

And as a last resort there's a bookshelf at the government staff canteen and I could just slyly leave a load there if needed. Bonkers that QT had so much trouble!

[pat5150]

I would have tried on Facebook SFF pages. I'm sure you would have found takers.

Other than that, there are also dedicated pages to donate stuff.

It's sad that you were forced to just throw the books away.

[Abyss]

QT - as an Ontario last'ish resort, Value Village - i think you have a few there - will take them and resell, and a (probably small) portion of their profit does go to charity.

[Macros]

Tiste Simeon, on 23 November 2024 - 06:12 PM, said:

Finished The Darkness at Sethanon, the final book of the original Riftwar Trilogy. Fantastic book, especially after the slight let down that was Silverthorn.

It does make me want to get the Empire trilogy he wrote with Janny Wurts but I have enough to read without buying more books for now.

No no

Read empire trilogy now

Follow straight up with Honoured Enemy

Then we'll talk

[QuickTidal]

pat5150, on 26 November 2024 - 04:09 PM, said:

I would have tried on Facebook SFF pages. I'm sure you would have found takers.

Other than that, there are also dedicated pages to donate stuff.

It's sad that you were forced to just throw the books away.

Oh for sure..., but FB marketplace sales for around 150 separate books would have been a lengthy task for me considering I'm clearing out to move soonish. Nowhere would take them en masse, which is what I'd rather.

Believe me, I was annoyed that I ended up having to toss them. I tried like hell to get them somewhere.

Abyss, on 26 November 2024 - 04:28 PM, said:

QT - as an Ontario last'ish resort, Value Village - i think you have a few there - will take them and resell, and a (probably small) portion of their profit does go to charity.

Yeah, I asked at my closest value village (it's over at Landsdowne and Bloor) the same day I checked with Sally Ann and got a similar response, that they would not likely take most of them. I would imagine that it depended on location and their ability to house new stock of used books. That's why the Sally Ann said they threw so many out, the guy on the phone said that get like 500 used books in their donation bins a day and capacity issues force them to throw out most.

We did have a friend from Parry Sound visiting on the weekend and they have a famous used bookstore there called Bearly Used Books, and she took my wife's castoffs (about 20 romance books) from packing to them and they took them, and the store put our name for store credit the next time we visit towards other used books. So I think next time I have a big selection to cast off I'll just wait till we visit Parry Sound. I didn't know it existed prior to a few days ago sadly.

It just annoys me that I can't do that in a big a city as Toronto.

[pat5150]

No, I meant FB pages like Fantasy-Faction, etc. I'm sure SFF readers from in and around Toronto would have been happy to get these books off your hands.