Sentences: Book Donations to Prison Libraries and Juvenile Detention Centers discussion

Find a used book store that will buy your old books. Most prisons can't do much with hardbacks (though there are exceptions). Check out our page for what a prison needs. Sell to the used book store what you have that the prison doesn't need, and use the money for postage to mail the requested books to the prison. And, as always, don't forget to ask for the media rate.

I started giving away books versus selling because it would make me so mad every time they would offer me $5.00 for a trash bag full of books. Their profit margin seemed ridiculous.

The system at the place near me isn't bad. They offer you a dollar or two for most books (store credit) or 75% of that if you want cash. The stuff they don't purchase you get back. So it's usually a trip there, then a trip to Goodwill to donate the rest... assuming none of the books would make good prison donations to begin with.

Clinton wrote: "The system at the place near me isn't bad. They offer you a dollar or two for most books (store credit) or 75% of that if you want cash. The stuff they don't purchase you get back. So it's usual..."

Well I used to read tons of paperback romance (until getting a kindle), and Half Price Books was overloaded with them, so they didn't pay much for them. Maybe if it were another genre maybe they would have paid more. Keep in mind the last time I attempted selling books was 10 years ago. After that paltry offer, I started giving away the books, that were just okay, or not needed to complete a collection.