Got Books

I love books, and while I would like to have a lot, there is such thing as to much of a good thing.
These folks are just great. I had 8 large boxes full of books and they came to pick them up free of charge. I honestly do not care what they do with them although they give a portion to charity. Would it be better if I could give these away locally? Absolutely, but I habe 8 boxes full of books and no car. How am I supposed to get these to a local charity, if they will even take them?
To me they are a great service: they give my good but unwanted books a good home and come pick them up at work or home. Doesn’t get any easier.

I’m not sure about the whole charity/​donation aspect, but as a customer who just goes in once in a while to grab a few books, I’m a fan. The books are all $ 1. The only bad thing is that they are not organized AT ALL!!! But I guess that’s what you have to expect when paying $ 1 for a book!

Pros:
* Everything is a mere dollar.
* All books are intermingled. (If you like hunting, it can be fun!)
* Parking is plentiful.
* CDs are 1 dollar!
Cons:
* They only have video tapes – no DVDs.
* All books are intermingled. (If you hate hunting, try the Burlington location instead, where books are loosely arranged by topic.)
* There is no public restroom available. (My eyeballs were floating by the time I finished browsing.)
* Half of the CDs were Ruben Studdard.
General observation:
When I went recently with some friends, we saw about 50 copies of Danielle Steele’s Silent Honor lurking on the shelves, a Fortran book sitting innocently next to a book about puppies, a 1992 French text book filled with high schooler graffiti, and many other mismatched things.
Tip:
When you get up to the checkout counter, sign up for their email list so you can get the skinny on upcoming specials/​events.

I am a non stop reader and have gotten the best bargains here-1.00 each. For instance, I have gotten all of Grisham’s fiction, Bill Clinton’s auto-​biography, Edward Rutherfords London and literally hundreds of others. Due to lack of book space and a desire to share books, I usually donate these and my books I previously purchased at high prices back to this fine organization. Due to the low price, I have taken a chance on genres I never indulged in and have expanded my reading boundaries. I go here every few months and collect my reading material so that I an never without a «new“book to enjoy.

For those of us that have materials that used books stores and local libraries don’t want and the Salvation Army/​Goodwill would rather not take (old textbooks for example), Got Books is a great solution. My employer had to clean out a storeroom full of hundreds of science manuals and textbooks, many of which were outdated and obsolete (FORTRAN anyone?). We attempted to sell some but we ended up donating most of them to Got Books. It was either have Got Books come and pick them up for free or pay for a disposal service to haul them away.
For my personal collection of books I always try to sell them first. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of demand for the books I have (really specific science stuff). At the end of the day, I just want my books to have a home. They’ll probably fare better being sold on-​line by a large company rather than at a thrift store.
As for Got Books itself… yeah, it does seem they downplay their «for profit» status, but isn’t even a small percentage of total earning donated to charity better than nothing? When we donate to many charities, how much of that money actually ends up helping and how much ends up going to administration, advertising… or dare I say profit? I stopped donating to one Boston charity after they threw my company a swanky catered affair to convince us to use automatic deductions from our paycheck to donate to them. The cost of that one event probably could have stocked a soup kitchen for weeks.
I like Got Books and I will continue to donate to them.

For all of you sadists and illiterates that cannot read and/​or comprehend plain english, their website clearly states that they are a FOR-​PROFIT professional fundraiser. It also states that they do their fundraising primarily by hosting weekly Charity Book Sales at the warehouse in North Reading. IT ALSO states that FIFTY percent of all weekend book sale profits go directly to THEIR fundraising partners — not the charity of YOUR CHOOSING! If you are a true charitable soul then you wouldn’t expect something for nothing (ie the books you are stealing for a dollar a piece at Got Books!) Donate your time and money to the charity of YOUR choosing or better yet, SET UP YOUR OWN charitable foundation so we can all participate. Otherwise, shutup, sit down and read the enjoyable books you just purchased FOR A DOLLAR A PIECE — half of which will be donated to charity if you bought them over the weekend! Peace.

Some of these reviews are ridiculous. One star just because YOU think they should give all of their money to the charities they support? C’mon… read the information on their website! Got Books makes no attempt to hide the fact that they are a FOR PROFIT company. And to those that complained because you now need a coupon to get the weekly deals at the North Reading location, it’s your own fault for not joining the e-​mail list… I’ve had my coupons every week since that change started! I see people leaving with BOXES full of VHS tapes and records for $ 10 when they have special deals, maybe you should be complaining about THOSE people, because they’re taking money away from the charity portion of the sales!
I’m a sixth grade teacher, and I go to Got Books every Saturday morning and always take home some great items. I get books for my classroom, brand new books that I give my students as gifts, educational videos, and I’ve recently picked up quite a few kid-​friendly computer games that I can install in my classroom. To me, it’s a great recycling program more than anything else… we all know people that would rather throw their old books/​games/​videos away, or store them away for years in the attic or basement, instead of taking the time to drive somewhere and donate them to charity, and Got Books will come and pick them up at your house… so how can you resist? The woman who works there on Saturdays is nice and friendly — my only complaint is that the warehouse is FREEZING! And now, as a matter of fact, it’s getting late, and I’m heading to Got Books. :)

Policies at this store change weekly without notice. For weeks LPs and videos were a set price for a special deal, suddenly you needed a coupon for the same deal. No notice was given and I traveled an hour to get to their location and they would not honor the previous agreement. Also dealers seem to squeeze ot the regular buyers. Should’nt 100% of profits go to charity? Total Scam

BEWARE Book Donors: This is NOT a not for profit but a FOR PROFIT business. This should send alarms bells off.
From their website, the charities they donate too are not even local.
Something very fishy is going on too with those 5 star reviews, written by 1 review Unilocalers.
Help real local charities by donating books and other items to Goodwill Industries or other local charities.

Don’t know what to do with that stack of paperbacks you read on the beach during vacation? Just wipe off the sand and the suntan lotion from the pages and donate them to Got Books. They will come and pick them up, free.
Arrangements are easy to make, just go online and fill out the form. Got Books will contact you via email or phone (whichever you prefer) to arrange a time for pick up. When I moved recently, I had some 200 books that I didn’t want to pack and had to get rid of in a hurry. Got Books came and got them within a week. No questions asked and I didn’t even have to be home. You’ll get good karma points too because the books you donate are then provided to some great charitable organizations like Books for Soldiers.