Dodged a bullet - learned a lesson

[professor-t]

I was picking up a few books at my local thrift today and several of them were photographic books.  So I opened each one and leafed through them to make sure they were undamaged.  When I got home I looked through a book on the local football team, which contained a series of stories about the "50 ost important games."  I hadn't thought to look through it at the store, but did so as I was taking photos.  ::sigh::  Someone had carefully removed a half dozen pages, probably containing photos they wanted to keep, before "donating" the now-worthless book.  It was only a couple of dollars, but it reminded me to look through books carefully before putting them up for sale.  This one is on it's way to the recycling center 

[castlemagicmemories]

Sorry this happened to you, OP, but a good reminder for all to check carefully before buying.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

All resellers have to learn this lesson, over, and over, and over, and over again. 

Flaws show up in the strangest places. I think I know all the locations possible--say on a piece of glass--and then I find a new way a piece of glass is flawed. 

And so it goes...we lose on some deals, that's just the way it is. 

[getitright1234]

I would not throw the book away, there maybe some pictures you can remove that maybe worh listing/selling.   Good luck!

[duggmills]

Decades ago I was invited to look over a material handling project for potential automation at a large Goodwill drop off center. It was a charity so the consult was a freebie. I was happy to partake.

You can't image the absolute trash that the absolute trash donates to Goodwill.  Kids school note books completely filled with notes and scribbling with not a single blank page.  Foot balls and basket balls the dog has chewed open, torn clothing,  frayed electrical cables,  items that are obviously just garbage.

There's an old adage in politics that goes something like "The Masses are _____" .   That applies to retail also. More so in some products than others.  One can only imagine.

[best_vintage_photos]

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@duggmills wrote:

Decades ago I was invited to look over a material handling project for potential automation at a large Goodwill drop off center. It was a charity so the consult was a freebie. I was happy to partake.

You can't image the absolute trash that the absolute trash donates to Goodwill.  Kids school note books completely filled with notes and scribbling with not a single blank page.  Foot balls and basket balls the dog has chewed open, torn clothing,  frayed electrical cables,  items that are obviously just garbage.

There's an old adage in politics that goes something like "The Masses are _____" .   That applies to retail also. More so in some products than others.  One can only imagine.

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Looks like some people figured out they could have smaller bills at the landfill stations when they 'donate' to Goodwill?

[a_c_green]

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@professor-t wrote:

Someone had carefully removed a half dozen pages, probably containing photos they wanted to keep, before "donating" the now-worthless book.  It was only a couple of dollars, but it reminded me to look through books carefully before putting them up for sale.  This one is on it's way to the recycling center 

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I think I'd weigh the value of the missing pages against the value of the remaining ones before deciding whether to toss it. I've sold ones with missing pages in the past, although I've made a point of calling out the missing pages in a major way, so the buyer could see what was or was not included. Generally these were used parts catalogs and factory service manuals, where one incomplete chapter didn't necessarily have any impact on the others; your example could be different.

[a_c_green]

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best_vintage_photos wrote: 
Looks like some people figured out they could have smaller bills at the landfill stations when they 'donate' to Goodwill?

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I firmly believe that one man's trash is another man's treasure, so I'd rather let Goodwill decide which of our donations is really worth resale, although certainly I wouldn't go sticking them with obvious junk: stuff that doesn't work, is incomplete, used up or whatever. But if it's just old or outmoded, and yet still working (e.g. a VCR), I'll donate it, assuming it's clean, complete, has its remote control with it, etc.

I recently scored a $5 GE clock radio from Goodwill for my Dad. It was probably 20 years old by now, I had to disassemble it to clean off a lot of crud and what appeared to be lipstick smears (?) off the controls, but it works great, has a big digital display (so he can read it at night without his glasses), and has no complicated programming that gets him confused. If someone hadn't donated it, even though it looked rather awful in the store, I would have to settle for a different one, possibly not as useful.

[sockmonkeydave]

@professor-t

I am sure everyone here has a similar story, face meet palm.

But then again.

I once picked up a copy of "Slaughter house five"  for 25 cents, at a yard sale.

It was autographed by Kurt Voneget... sorry about the spelling there Kurt.

[faithandbutterflies]

Yes, I've done something like that before but sadly didn't catch it till the buyer got it and told me about it. I had bought some homeschooling books at a homeschool co op sale event. I never got around to using some of them so decided to sell them. I flipped through the books before posting and saw pages that had no writing on them. Well, later I got a message from a buyer who said more than half of the pages in one book had blanks filled in. I felt awful! I told her I had flipped through the book and didn't see anything. I had even taken photos of a few pages that showed no writing. Thankfully she understood. 

I now flip through a book a few times to make sure it is exactly as I describe. 

[faithandbutterflies]

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But then again.

I once picked up a copy of "Slaughter house five"  for 25 cents, at a yard sale.

It was autographed by Kurt Voneget... sorry about the spelling there Kurt. 

Wow. I've picked up a few autographed books too but they are always authors I don't know. I was actually going through books on my bookshelf to sell in my store and came across a book I bought used and never read. It was a book written by Lisa Whelchel from Facts Of Life. I flipped through the book and just happened to make a point to look at the first few pages. I was stunned to see it was signed by her. I've had this book sitting on my bookshelf for at least 7-8 years or even more. I'm a big fan of Facts Of Life so I'm keeping it. 

[sockmonkeydave]

@faithandbutterflies

Oh great, thanks... now I have to go watch reruns of the facts of life.

( I liked the bad girl who rode a motorcycle )

I have a book that is over 100 years old, I can't find any info on it.

I have been trying for 10 years to find something.

I called the number for the historical office.

And I get starbucks.

[professor-t]

What is the book? I have a few sources and can check them for you,.

[sockmonkeydave]

@professor-t

The cover says "George A. Thomas Norwich, New York"

It was published in 1916 by his wife Fannie Makepead Thomas

George Abraham Thomas b. 1847  d. 1913

It seems to be his writing as a young man in New England, love seems to be a theme.

And bad weather, I will take another run at reading it, but it is dry.

It was signed by him, but the run was so small, he could have signed them all by noon.

[professor-t]

I did a little searching and the only thing I could find was the following.  Note that Norwich is the publishing house and the lady's middle name is Makepeace, not Makepead.