My #1 Favorite (And Secret) Book Source Vanishes

Last month I posted this article, on my #1 favorite (not necessarily most lucrative) book source: The dumpster of my local library. It’s a lot of fun, and they throw away a TON of textbooks. The books are presumably overflow from their biannual book sale, that they apparently don’t think will sell or don’t have room for. For whatever reason, they won’t sell textbooks at their sale, and put any textbook donations DIRECTLY into the dumpster. That’s where I swoop in and save the day.

Well, I don’t know if the library is reading this blog or what, but shortly after posting the aforementioned article they began padlocking their dumpster. Why would they go to such lengths to protect their trash? After I came and went dozens of times without leaving a trace, and in fact as a rule always left the dumpster area cleaner than I found it?

I have a theory. It’s that quirk of human psychology where people can’t STAND for others to capitalize on their oversights. They get jealous. Their egos get bruised. It’s the same reason why your local thrift store manager might ask you to leave if he sees you scanning books. They can’t stand to see someone highlighting their oversights and / or ignorance.

I don’t know what happened. Even though I went at night, my best guess is that someone saw me dumpster diving, or I left some hint of my presence, and the library freaked out and put their dumpster on hiatus. For now.

I guess this means I have to go in and actually work out an arrangement to pick up the throwaways. Updates in a future post.