Thank you, everyone who commented on my nervous posts--it truly helped a lot, to get your perspectives (and offers of help)!
Yesterday I did a thing I'm not entirely sure of.
I biked through the rich neighborhood (of mostly beautiful, single-family homes and even mansions) that rings the lake, about 4 miles from my thrift store,
and I stopped at all the many Little Free Library boxes, where people put books out to take.
And at each box, I took one, two, or three books (out of say, 20–30 per box) to donate to the thrift store.
Hm, when I wrote it out that way, I am ethically OK with it.
I just felt funny because the donors' idea is they give the books away free, but the thrift store (me!) will charge money for them--mostly 99 cents.
The donors are not just the people who own the houses where the Little Free Libraries are. They are anyone who drops books off. I believe the boxes serve as recycling conveniences as much as anything---you don't have to drive to a thrift store, for instance. I would be happy if I were a person who hosted or donated to a LFL box if some of the books went to SVDP.
A complimentary idea is that it is good to redistribute the books from a wealthy area where the receivers will mostly be other wealthy people ["wealthy" being a relative term; I mean, here, people who have jobs that pay much more than minimum wage]
to a poor area where people live in the park that's next to the store.
And the money we charge just keeps the place running, so it can continue to provide low-cost good things to people who need them. Or just want them--
rich people shop there too! A couple in the books section the other week told me they'd paid $600 each for tickets to go see Hamilton that night. They bought a 49¢ manga for their grandson.
So, yeah. I believe I am honoring the larger idea of sharing books--like a squirrel shares acorns by moving them around.
I'm going to be OK with it for now--if you have an opinion, I would like to hear it!
These are the seventeen books I took for the store:
Yesterday I did a thing I'm not entirely sure of.
I biked through the rich neighborhood (of mostly beautiful, single-family homes and even mansions) that rings the lake, about 4 miles from my thrift store,
and I stopped at all the many Little Free Library boxes, where people put books out to take.
And at each box, I took one, two, or three books (out of say, 20–30 per box) to donate to the thrift store.
Hm, when I wrote it out that way, I am ethically OK with it.
I just felt funny because the donors' idea is they give the books away free, but the thrift store (me!) will charge money for them--mostly 99 cents.
The donors are not just the people who own the houses where the Little Free Libraries are. They are anyone who drops books off. I believe the boxes serve as recycling conveniences as much as anything---you don't have to drive to a thrift store, for instance. I would be happy if I were a person who hosted or donated to a LFL box if some of the books went to SVDP.
A complimentary idea is that it is good to redistribute the books from a wealthy area where the receivers will mostly be other wealthy people ["wealthy" being a relative term; I mean, here, people who have jobs that pay much more than minimum wage]
to a poor area where people live in the park that's next to the store.
And the money we charge just keeps the place running, so it can continue to provide low-cost good things to people who need them. Or just want them--
rich people shop there too! A couple in the books section the other week told me they'd paid $600 each for tickets to go see Hamilton that night. They bought a 49¢ manga for their grandson.
So, yeah. I believe I am honoring the larger idea of sharing books--like a squirrel shares acorns by moving them around.
I'm going to be OK with it for now--if you have an opinion, I would like to hear it!
These are the seventeen books I took for the store:
