Books, Books, Books

I finally figured out how the Thriftbooks sell-back program works. I've been entering ISBN numbers for a few weeks now and got up to an offer of $10.91, I believe, for eight books that together weighed about eight pounds. If you want to sell the books they have to give you an offer of no less than $7 and one box cannot weigh more than 40 pounds. I was curious about how you acquire the mailing label but had been putting off going to the library to do that. Finally, today, I went to the library to get a label. Why did I have to go to the library? Because I do not have a printer. I had a printer that someone had given to me, but it was actually a photo printer that would print on paper, and the cartridge was so expensive ($85) I decided not to use that printer anymore. I gave it away to God's Storehouse. So now I just don't bother with a printer, but you have to go online and get one of their mailing labels. Since you can print stuff at the library if you have a library card, that's what I do when I need a printer. I will make a long story short, just in case any of you are interested in selling any of your books to ThriftBooks. You go to their website and create an account if you don't have one. Then you click on "sell your books." That's where you enter ISBN numbers of books and they'll tell you if they want the book and how much they will pay for it. You can also scan QR codes somehow to get the ISBN numbers but I don't know how to do that. So, when you have enough, you click on "accept offer" and then they will guide you to the mailing label. You print the label and pack your books in a box, attach the label and take it to the post office within seven days, I believe. I, of course, had to research how to affix the label onto the box. Some said use clear packing tape to cover the label, glue it down and tape around the edges but no tape on the QR code. So, I had to buy a roll of clear packing tape. I already had a glue stick (you can't use glue from a squeeze bottle--it will wrinkle the label). Well, the interesting next step involved figuring out the tape dispenser. I couldn't figure out how it was supposed to work. The tape was inserted backwards so you had to actually open up the dispenser and turn the roll of tape around in order for the sticky side of the tape to be on the bottom when you tear it off. I actually had to march over to Walgreens with the thing and have one of the dear young female employees help me figure it out. Just so you know. The brand is Wexford and the product is made in Taiwan. Just FYI. I have no idea why the tape is inserted backwards in the dispenser, requiring you to figure out how to open the dispenser and turn the roll of tape around. That utterly leaves me shaking my head. But at least I did it. Or, rather, the dear girl at Walgreens did it. I can take it to the post office on Monday and it should be ready to be in the mail to ThriftBooks somewhere in Illinois. You can be paid with PayPal or store credit. I don't like PayPal so I chose store credit. So, that should be fun to be able to use my store credit to buy books. And now that I have solved the mystery of how to get the mailing label, I can start running some more ISBN numbers and see how many more books I can sell to them. If I can't sell them to ThriftBooks they can just go in the box to take to God's Storehouse. That is part of what I will be doing this summer, as part of my new "discarding" policy. Books and clothes are two of the most difficult things to get rid of, in case you didn't know. So, I have a lot of books to read and/or decide they have to go. Part of that involves actually reading, so I am going to go do that for a while tonight. I am reading about three books at a time right now. One is "Red State Religion" by Robert Wuthnow, a Kansas born religion sociologist and "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave." Also, "For Love and Liberty: The Untold Story of Major Sullivan Ballou and His Famous Love Letter" by Robin Young. I also acquired "Love Against Hate" by Karl Menninger, M.D. today at the library bookstore. It was actually a gift from Jean and Rosemary Menninger to "Craig and Lena Yorke on their wedding day August 28, 1993." I couldn't pass it up. It's in really good shape too. Everybody should probably read that book and apply its principles. Too bad we had to lose Dr. Karl Menninger and too bad Topeka had to lose the Menninger Foundation. Books are one thing you can kind of rely on not to die or disappear. Too bad more people don't read them. I think once upon a time America was a more literary nation. I hope we can return to some of our old ways as we celebrate 250 years this year. It's miraculous. I really believe that. I won’t make much on those books, but it will be a fun way to dispose of them anyway.