Some of the books we want to dispose of are unsolicited samples. Is it legal for these to enter the marketplace?

Yes.  By Canadian law, goods received unsolicited can be disposed of in any manner the recipient chooses, including selling.

We hear different things about why we get sample books. Can you clarify?

Providing samples – review copies, complimentary copies, desk copies, etc. – is a common and one of the most effective ways for publishers and many other companies to promote their latest products.  Although terms such as partnering, goodwill, ethics, fairness, agreements, etc. are often used in presentations, the bottom line is that giving out samples is about doing business.

Some books have notices on the cover regarding sale and copyright issues.  Is it ok to sell these or use these for fundraising?

Yes. These notices carry no legal weight, and there is no issue around sales, content ownership or copyright in allowing such books to enter the marketplace.

Is it ethical to profit from goods acquired for free? 

In Feng Shui there is a saying: “Every time you look at an unwanted gift, it drains your energy.”

When businesses give away free goods to promote themselves and their products,  the recipient is automatically obligated to do something with them: provide a place to put them, find someone else who wants them or figure out a responsible way to dispose of them. So for anyone who values their time and space, “free” goods really carry an invisible price tag.

Another point: it is customary for households, religious groups, community organizations and thrift stores to sell  unwanted business gifts, store samples – even wedding presents – to raise money.

If you are uncomfortable with the idea of profiting from selling a book, consider donating to a favourite cause, helping someone in need, or using the money to offset out-of-pocket expenses.

Does putting book samples into the marketplace create other problems, eg. for students or authors?

Using sample books for fundraising allows these books to be part of the solution, rather than perpetuating a problem.

1. •In the greater scheme of things, it makes sense for book samples to offset the cost of their own footprint.
   

2. • According to an economics professor, samples in the marketplace account for less than 2% of  sales. This means they play a very negligible role in affecting publishers’ profits,  the cost of textbooks for students, or author royalties.
   

3. •Those responsible for giving out samples have provided limited systems for keeping them out of the blue box or trash. Publishers suggest that unwanted books should be returned to reps, but reps are understandably reluctant to come back to collect. Using the “postage paid” system to return unwanted samples by mail is time consuming and certainly not what faculty or administrators are paid to do.
   

4. •Unless a recycling service such as ours is offered, most  review copies spend their useful lives cluttering up shelves, gathering dust and read by no one until moving day comes and they end up in the trash, often still in their shrink wrap.
   

Do any proceeds from our book sale fundraising programs go to your business?

Yes. We are a small, family-owned business, not a funded charity. To facilitate your fundraising programs, we need to cover our labour costs, gas, storage, and other expenses, and of course, we need to live! We do, however, donate a portion of proceeds to charity as well. See about us for more information.

What are the advantages of using your book recycling program vs other organizations?

You will know who you are working with and your contact will be accessible in person. The number of people coming on campus will be limited to one to two people, with Janie Upham personally on site and involved in each step of the process. If you are selling books for fundraising, you will have the reassurance that funds from your book donation is going to where it was intended. You will also be supporting a small Canadian business and the local economy. And you may feel good about the fact that we donate a portion of our proceeds to peace initiatives.

What do you do with the books you sell for fundraising?

We make them available, usually at reduced prices, to students at other schools, who need these books for their required reading. We do this by selling them to various wholesale textbook exchanges that primarily supply the used and discount markets.

We plan to donate our books to the library. Isn’t that a good alternative?

Most library collections are being downsized and digitized. They often prefer to fill limited shelf space with books that augment current curriculums, rather than with introductory texts that are updated so often that cataloguing and magnetic coding become costly. Libraries often contact us to sell the books they don’t want.

Some libraries require that you submit a list of ISBN’s before you can donate books. A few people who use our service have admitted they had intended to give books to the library, but never found the time to follow through.

I give extra books to my students. Isn’t this a better  option?

This makes sense if you are giving a cash-strapped student or a TA an extra copy of the book you’re teaching from. Otherwise, perhaps not, because students have a hard enough time getting through their assigned textbooks, never mind additional reading!

With new editions coming out so frequently, it’s difficult for students to purchase assigned textbooks at used or discount prices. Our business supplies the discount and used markets. If you want to help students, this is a more effective approach to getting the right book to the student who needs it at a reduced price, and you can use the funds you raise to help in other ways, such as giving to the student food bank.

Isn’t someone at our college technically responsible for disposing of unwanted books?

Since these books come from parties outside the school,  handling them is usually left up to outside parties also. As far as we have observed, the task of dealing with surplus faculty books is not officially included in anyone’s role description (or budget). That is, unless they are placed in Blue Bins or trash.

What if there’s a policy about dealing with book buyers, which I do not agree with?

Our position is that we do business with individuals as independent professionals, and as per college policy about visitors, our presence on campus is by invitation. Most professors and staff have extended us an open invitation to drop by whenever we are in the area; still we consider all of our transactions private and confidential. If you have concerns about doing business on campus, we will visit you with utmost discretion. But if your comfort is at stake, we can visit you at home office or meet you in a coffee shop.

What is the difference between you and those who solicit for book donations, such as “books for Africa”?

We are a registered business. We provide documentation about our activities, and are transparent about our primary service, which is to buy and sell textbooks.

We recommend you ask for and investigate credentials of anyone offering to collect books for donation.

We hope to organize our own book drive for a developing community. What would be involved?

Although our role in book drives has been limited to supplying  books and funding, we are aware of most of the steps involved. The first step is to determine where a need exists and what books will be appropriate. You may have to create or identify an organization that is set up to receive and distribute the books once they arrive. Determine how you will get them there and who will cover the shipping costs. Be sure to do some background research and obtain credentials from any party or organization you intend to collaborate with. You may be able to arrange for free transport through your Provincial Police (such as OPP in Ontario) or Canadian Armed Forces, who have helped in the past with transporting books to First Nations Communities and Afghanistan. Unless you intend to do the work yourself (not advisable!), you will need to recruit a few volunteers to collect, sort and prepare books for shipping. Boxes, (and possibly sea containers) labels, and shipping documentation will be required. If you need to raise funds to keep the project afloat, there are several on-site assessment services such as ours in Canada and the US that we can recommend.  If you figure out how each step will be handled in advance, your project should meet with success.

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