If you are looking to take waste and reuse it, then one of the materials that you are going to end up dealing with is second hand books.
Typically these books are listed and sold on an item basis, with each book having a different price depending on what the store thinks it's worth. Here's a different model: sell books by the kilogram. The greengrocer for books. You could play with this.
It's not my idea. I first saw it written up at Springwise (a website listing entrepreneurial ideas), with the article referring to the Spanish bookseller La Casqueria which apparently sells books by the kilogram. Unfortunately I don't read Spanish, but I believe them.
There is another store in the US that does similar: Market Fresh Books. Books there are $5/lb, or a bit over $10/kg. In fact, they have some really clever business models like book rental where you pay a deposit of the book's cover price, and get refunded the deposit less $0.75 per day. If you like the book, you keep it and everybody's happy. Cool approach!
You could have a bit of fun with this. Maybe romance novels are "in season", and so you can reduce the price. Greengrocer scales, people in smocks, books put in paper bags etc. Go the whole hog.
It certainly changes thinking about books, and that can't be a bad thing. You're certainly in front. At $10/kg, you are getting $10,000/tonne. That beats paying $100/tonne at landfill, or maybe getting $300/tonne as recycled paper.
Why do books go to landfill again?
http://lacasqueria.com/ apparently sorts the books by topics.. Westerns, romances, history, sf, etc. (google translate) so much like a vegetable stand, with market rates for different topics by weight.
ReplyDeleteI would have hoped most paper waste at least gets pulped. Sadly, this is where most new books that do not sell in their first year end up. But I do not know the statistics.
Sorting the books by category does add value. Though people valuing or even reading a dead tree edition is starting to decline. It is more a narrow niche an existing secondhand bookseller could use to differentiate themselves in a tight market.
Can they be bought by the ton?
Ken,
ReplyDeleteYes, I think you're right - unsold books get pulped. And unfortunately that is most of them. I do know that Strand Books in New York City carries a large stock of remaindered books, though they are sold like a normal shop. Being a book lover, it was my idea of heaven on earth when I went in to what has to be the biggest bookstore I've ever seen (by a long way).
I'm not sure about whether second hand books will fade away or linger on as an ongoing niche. I'm probably a bit biased. But I do know the market is tight, and any differentiation would have to help.
Talking about books..... We are about to list our home and we need to declutter. My study is full of prize treasure like "Microsoft MCSE 2000 amd MCSE 2003" study systems. My God! I also have an IBM series 5000 server door as my study door. My wife is a specialist in health and front-line management. She has stuff she sees as "evidence" of her qualifications. Why do we do this? The girls buy a romance novel and the watch the movie on Universal. Tears are shed again and again but the book still sits on the shelf. Why? How do we deal with this?
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how much we accumulate, and how hard it is to get rid of? It's almost like you need to move house every 2 years just to keep on top of the clutter.
DeleteAs for me, I would be pretty upset if I had to get rid of my library. Even though there are books I'll never read. I see it as a little representation of my personality (and yes, I'm a bit of a book snob).
To Skip or not to Skip?????
ReplyDeleteI've recently had a hip replacement so I have time to contemplate on issues which I would normally push aside in the "not so important basket". Today I have been mulling over the project of moving house and the issue of the books came up over dinner. I showed Wendy this blog post and she immediately started talking about ways to rid ourselves of the book problem and it all came down to time, cost and practicality. Sure, we assess the recycling options and then the question arises as to who, how, how much and how much time do we have?????? OK so here is the easy fix to our immediate problem. I hire a skip bin for a week. I hire a gardener/handy man for a day and we tag items (not just books) as junk or keep. The skip gets filled with all sorts of material (pot plants, books, old furniture, e-waste and every other sort of material we do not want to take with us. Why is this the best solution I ask in hindsight. Below I will list a few reasons. There will be answers available but remember, we do care but we haven't planned for this.
1. OK so $250 for the skip is in the budget and it's a quick fix.
2. If I ring the council for ideas the answer will be something along the lines of "if a verge collection is not scheduled then you must use a private waste management company". We all know what happens there.
That's just a couple of reasons. But ultimately it comes back to one solution and that is landfill.
Wendy and I have at least considered options but they all require a deal of our time and effort. She works like a Trojan and I sit here with crutches like a helpless puppy. Still the problem exists.
OK so let's get on to the other blog topic and that is "solutions" selling/provision. Wouldn't it be great if I could reliably call on someone to resolve this issue in a way that would be cost effective and leave us with a clear conscience following the purge? Surely we are not the only people to move house in a hurry. Currently we need to argue amongst ourselves about what has "value" and what doesn't. Then we have to decide what to do with it all. I can guarantee that I will lose some arguments and some stuff will get tossed and other stuff will come with us for no apparent reason. Are we just unusual or is this a reflection about how society is? I dare to suggest that the latter is the correct answer. So how do we change that?????
This is just one example of the problem with waste management. I can clearly remember lots of examples in the corporate and government world where the same problem exists but on a much larger scale.
Back to you Adam LOL.
I think your dilemma is the entire dilemma around waste management.
DeleteBy and large, people don't want to make waste for landfill, but do so because they don't have the ability to do any better. That is usually due to time, sometimes due to money. You know that, if you went to the effort, you could sort everything and list it on eBay, take it to the charities etc. But that is an impossible amount of time when there is so much else going on. So you do as I did, as pretty much everybody else does, and go for the quick fix.
I think that the problem with this situation is not that you do it, it is that you are compelled to do it and then (in your case) feel guilty about it. The core of my business idea is to do exactly what you suggest should be done. Let people clear things away in good conscience. I collect, sort, resell, recycle, dispose where necessary. There must be the space for a business that can fit between guilt ridden "quick fixes" and time-consuming "right things". Isn't that what business is all about? Finding a problem that is shared by enough and then fixing it?
It's nice that you suggested what I've been planning...gives me a bit of a sense that it might be worthwhile.
Wink at you Adam. Just delete the "might" bit. If you have the desire and some resources then go for it!
ReplyDelete