Getting Rid of Stuff and Breaking Even: 2nd and Charles

Remember Miss Em's song Get rid of stuff/Make money. The new ditty is Get rid of stuff/Break even. We have a book problem in these parts. The problem is that we have books from Mr FS's late and beloved father still in boxes. But we have no shelf space.

So: a new twist for the books one reads once--or never--and is willing to part with. Books-a-Million is--in some spots--transforming itself to 2nd and Charles. The latter sells used stuff and bills itself as a green enterprise. You bring in your stuff--books, cds, dvds, games--and await the verdict. Generally, the verdict is ridiculously low. As far as I can tell, you get about 60 cents cash for a trade paperback and about 75 cents for a cd. About double for credit. Zillions of people are unloading their stuff!

Now, I wouldn't take books that were worth much of anything to this place, since there is no way to tell how much you are getting for an individual item; you get a total and it's all or nothing. However, I get lots of books at the thrift store for between 25 cents and a dollar. Ditto for cds. So I am breaking even.

If I had books that I thought were worth a good bit of money, I would check on Amazon, Abebooks or the like. But for popular novels from a few seasons ago or diet books or whatever, it's a solution.

The business model seems quite lucrative, incidentally. Bookstores buy new books for around 60% of cover price. At 2nd and Charles, books sell for around half-price. So a book they buy for 60 cents might sell for $6.00. It's a cheap way to fill their shelves. Each item they sell pays for 10 or more items.

And it must be appealing. I saw lots of good books and the place was hopping--a young demographic.

Getting 60 cents a book is no big deal. But when you bring the max allowed (3 bins worth), you can get about $80.00 at a pop. Not bad.