If you are anything like me you have piles upon piles of books that are just sitting there waiting to find a home. The problem is that you just never seem to get around to giving them away or donating them. Perhaps if you had an incentive to get rid of them it would be easier.
I was doing some research on ways to get rid of books that would assure that they aren’t ending up in a landfill and i came across a really cool site. The name of the site is www.paperbackswap.com and it is a book swap club. The neat thing about this club is that they help you do it all. You go in and enter in the books you would like to swap. You also check the listings for a book you want to get. Once someone chooses your book you will get an email that tells you all of the information. You print out the wrapper for the books from your home computer (it is just two sheets of printer paper) and wrap the book up. The label and everything is there. You just add the postage and mail the book. The books you get are yours to keep or you can add it back to the swap list when you are done. You get one credit for each book you send off. You get the credit once the book is received by the orderer. You also get 2 free books when you first sign up. The best thing is that it is all free to join right now. The do have a disclaimer that it may be a paid site eventually but for now the only money you spend is the postage to send out the books you list.
This is a really great way to share your books with others, get rid of the clutter, help the environment and get books you have been wanting to read for a fraction of the cost.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Hedy // Apr 28, 2008 at 1:18 pm
One thing to keep in mind about Paperback swap-even if you have the postage on the book, if it’s over 1 lb (I think) you cannot put it in a mailbox.
2 janet // Apr 28, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Thanks so much for pointing that out! I did read something about that on the site but I forgot to include it in the post. This would mean that you would have to bring the book to the post office to mail.
3 Kimberly // Apr 29, 2008 at 6:35 pm
What a great suggestion. I wish I could stand to part with my books. This would be a great way to get my hands on others, but I seem to have an emotional attachment to a book after I read it.
4 Cate // Apr 30, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Thanks for the suggestion. Another good idea is checking with your local library system to see if they accept old books. I just found out my system back home (East BR Parish) accepts used books and then resells them for 25 cents or $1 (no higher) to raise money for new books at the library. I was able to pick up 4 books last weekend and will be dropping them back off once I’m done.
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