Has anyone tried a "Used Book Sale"?

[ManassasEagle]

I'm thinking something along the lines of having the scouts distribute hang-tags on doors in their neighborhoods asking people to clean out their bookcases and donate their used books. The scouts would then collect them all and later have a "Used Book Sale". This could be either standalone or maybe at one (or more) of the Old Town Festival or other community type events. Any leftovers could even be sold to a local used bookstore.

 

Any thoughts on something like that?

[Trevorum]

I recall one fellow who proposed a similar idea as an Eagle project to benefit the local library. He eventually went in another direction though.

 

Our troop has a garage sale every two or three years and books are always popular, if rather low ticket items. Most people will not spend more than 50c for a paperback and $1 for a hardback, unless it is oversize or glossy. IMO, it's a great idea, but i'm afraid it might not net much revenue for the effort.

[sweetspiritpamh]

My daughters are in a Venture crew sponsored by BSA National Office. Many of the staff there really enjoy reading all types of books and watching movies. So they did a drive to collect reading material and movies, the big part of the challenge was organizing it so people could find it. Then over a 2 day time period they sold them at this office building (BSA National Office)during peoples lunch time. Then with the leftovers they were donated I believe. The kids were really working hard and everyone knew they had a great goal so I believe they were very supportive.

[scoutldr]

Our local "Friends of the Public Library" does this - collects used books and then sells them twice a year with proceeds going to the Public Library. You might want to check with your library to make sure you're not stepping on their toes.

[Lisabob]

Our public library does this too and it is their only/main fundraiser. Don't want to irritate them!

 

Lisa'bob

[ManassasEagle]

scoutldr - Thanks, I've looked at the "stepping on toes" issue and, at least around here, it boils down to the Public Libraries and two used bookstores. The Public Libraries do have periodic "book sales" but they don't collect anything. They're just selling off the extra copies they own. You know, when the latest bestseller comes out, they need hundreds of copies but, a year or two later, they don't need nearly that many so they sell them off. As for the bookstores, one deals in rare first editions and such so no worries there. The other one is one where people can come in a "sell" them their old books. The bookstore then puts these on the shelves and "resells" them, presumably at a profit. This is where I would most likely unload any collected books that don't sell - probably wouldn't hurt to talk to them beforehand to keep everything on the up and up.

 

sweetspiritpamh- Your mentioning "watching movies" makes for a good suggestion. In addition to collecting people's used books, why not ask for old videos too. Videos, like the books, would be in the spirit of the "yard sale" without all the storage issues that come from all the larger items that "yard sales" usually include.

 

Trevorum- Yes, the .50/paperback 1.00/hardback prices do seem to be what you see at typical yard sales. The used bookstore in town sells used paperbacks for generally $2.00 and used hardbacks for $4.00 and every time I've been in there, they've been doing a booming business. So maybe we could get away with prices somewhere in between those two - hopefully high enough to net a meaningful profit but low enough that people will buy. On the other hand, I guess we could use the Trails End Popcorn model and charge $10 for paperbacks and $20 for hardbacks, huh