In late May of 2009 we did a piece on Book Patrol, About Those Blue Book Donation Boxes, outlining the shady nature of these boxes. At the time of the post over 15,000 boxes where in place around the country.
We discovered that:
51% of books donated end up being pulped. Think revenue stream.
25% go to non-profit organizations committed to various literacy and book-related causes with only a tiny fraction of those books ever making it back to the community they came from and the remaining books are sold on the various online marketplaces.
We suggested that these boxes be painted red due to the inherent danger they pose to the communities they appear in with the biggest threat being to the local libraries where donations of books, which are eventually sold in library sales to support the library, have declined.
D.K. Row’s piece in the Oregonian last month, ‘Books for charity’ bins around Oregon reveal blurry relationship between nonprofit and for-profit businesses, seems to have got the ball rolling. He talked with Ross Laybourn, the former head of the charities division at the Oregon Department of Justice, who said:
“If you spend time looking at the bins, is it clear that it’s being collected by a for-profit company?” Laybourn said. “It’s like when a telemarketer calls for a contribution by telephone. They are supposed to make a disclosure that they are the professional fundraising firm calling on behalf of a charity.”
Laybourn also thinks Thrift’s close relationship to the nonprofit that manages its book distribution to charities, Reading Tree, might raise concerns.
“I always get a little nervous where you have this intertwining of a pro-profit and a nonprofit beneficiary,” he said. “Are these two organizations totally dependent on each other?”
The piece was followed up less than a week later with word that one box had already been removed from a Portland-area shopping center.
The tide is turning.
Previously on Book Patrol:
Better or Not? Better World Books adds Donation Boxes, A Book Drive for Haiti and a Partnership with Powell’s to the Mix
Penny-seller rakes in millions: Thrift Recycling gets hefty investment
ADDENDA – here will continue to add relevant links as the story unfolds.
Blue bins for books worry Palo Alto library advocates – San Jose Mercury News 6/14/2011
Controversy hits East Bay over used books – KGO-TV San Francisco 6/16/2011
Blue book donation bins come under fire – Contra Costa Times 6/17/2011
“Charity” book bins run by for-profit company – Berkeleyside 6/30/2011
Safeway removes some book donation bins after criticism – Contra Costa Times 7/13/2011