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I work in used books and I need to vent.
Today it's about buying across the counter.
I still find it amazing how you can judge the quality of books by the container they are brought in. I can see no sense in the pattern maybe someone here can.
This is the quality of books guaged by the container they come in, in ascending order.
garbage bags.
plastic tubs.
plastic laundry baskets.
clothing/department store bags (ritziness of the store is an independent variable).
luggage
supermarket bags
old cardboard boxes, excepting those that baby paraphenalia came in, those belong much higher on the list.
Yes, I mean it. when people bring the books they're selling in an old cardboard box the books are usually better than what people bring in anyother container.
This pattern is about 90% reliable.
If the books are just thrown in the container they are almost always crap.
If the seller keeps yammering at you about how good the books are when you are going through them they pretty much always crap.
We also tend to work on what my boss calls the contaigen theory. The more junk books we have gone through from a given seller the more likely we are to assume that a borderline book is junk.
The variations from this pattern are pretty much down to noise level.
One guy hit all four. He came in with a box that a stroler came in (1st strike) with books just loosly tossed in (2nd strike). This box had a base about an arms lenght by an arms lenght and was waist high. I quickly scanned the top and decided that the chance of having something worth my time deeper in the box was about nill (3rd strike).
Unfortunately these rules are not 100% so you have to look at everything. As I was mining my way towards the bottom he kept talking up the books (4th strike).
I finally reached the bottom of the box and found (drumroll)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Nothing.
Another thing I hate is when people bring in several containers and throw all of them on my counter. I don't have nearly enough counter space (a complaint the boss is tired of hearing). People need to put their purchases there. I need to be able to move the books from one pile to another while I am tallying them. People need to put their purses and bags there while I am ringing them up. I need space to place the books I want to buy as I remove them. None of this can happen if the counter is covered.
A minor annoyance is people stacking the books in the boxes face up. For long term storage you want to to that, but for selling, spine up is the best . I can scan the titles quickly and get you out with your money much faster.
Another minor annoyance is people who are oblivious to condition. Look at the stacks of a used book store. That is the conditon we like.
One reason I'm posting this is that a lot of this is stuff people who aren't in the trade could reasonably be expected to know. So tell your friends when selling books to a used book store:
Today it's about buying across the counter.
I still find it amazing how you can judge the quality of books by the container they are brought in. I can see no sense in the pattern maybe someone here can.
This is the quality of books guaged by the container they come in, in ascending order.
garbage bags.
plastic tubs.
plastic laundry baskets.
clothing/department store bags (ritziness of the store is an independent variable).
luggage
supermarket bags
old cardboard boxes, excepting those that baby paraphenalia came in, those belong much higher on the list.
Yes, I mean it. when people bring the books they're selling in an old cardboard box the books are usually better than what people bring in anyother container.
This pattern is about 90% reliable.
If the books are just thrown in the container they are almost always crap.
If the seller keeps yammering at you about how good the books are when you are going through them they pretty much always crap.
We also tend to work on what my boss calls the contaigen theory. The more junk books we have gone through from a given seller the more likely we are to assume that a borderline book is junk.
The variations from this pattern are pretty much down to noise level.
One guy hit all four. He came in with a box that a stroler came in (1st strike) with books just loosly tossed in (2nd strike). This box had a base about an arms lenght by an arms lenght and was waist high. I quickly scanned the top and decided that the chance of having something worth my time deeper in the box was about nill (3rd strike).
Unfortunately these rules are not 100% so you have to look at everything. As I was mining my way towards the bottom he kept talking up the books (4th strike).
I finally reached the bottom of the box and found (drumroll)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Nothing.
Another thing I hate is when people bring in several containers and throw all of them on my counter. I don't have nearly enough counter space (a complaint the boss is tired of hearing). People need to put their purchases there. I need to be able to move the books from one pile to another while I am tallying them. People need to put their purses and bags there while I am ringing them up. I need space to place the books I want to buy as I remove them. None of this can happen if the counter is covered.
A minor annoyance is people stacking the books in the boxes face up. For long term storage you want to to that, but for selling, spine up is the best . I can scan the titles quickly and get you out with your money much faster.
Another minor annoyance is people who are oblivious to condition. Look at the stacks of a used book store. That is the conditon we like.
One reason I'm posting this is that a lot of this is stuff people who aren't in the trade could reasonably be expected to know. So tell your friends when selling books to a used book store:
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