On July 17th, the Queen's Royal College (QRC) held its 2nd annual second-hand book sale. This idea was the brain child of a QRC parent whose son had just completed form 2 and was preparing to enter form 3. With the help of two other parents, the book fair project was spearheaded into an overwhelming success. After a month of advertising with flyers, emails, phone calls and internet postings, interested students from the college came with their books to sell. "A $235 book usually received a $90 sale," advised one of the organizers of the event. "The boys sold their books and then bought books with the money they made. It was hugely popular with parents who even called to have the 9am-1pm event extended." For those of us who may not be saving books for younger siblings, this is a viable option. However, if your school does not organize a book fair then there are other alternatives.
"You can get instant cash for your used school books," informed Liandra Singh, a supervisor at Unique Books and Sports Centre. "We (Unique Books) offer one third of the original cost of the school books." Singh stressed that; "the books must be in good condition and schools must be using them. And we at Unique Books do know what schools are using." What about donating your used books to homes? Homes like St Jude's for girls can make use of these second-hand books as most of their occupants are of school age. Familiar sights for those of us who frequent Port of Spain during the July/August school vacation are the second-hand book vendors in Woodford Square. "I have sold my daughter's used school books to vendors in Woodford Square," attested Glenda Roberts. "Not all of the vendors purchase books but those who do set a price depending on the condition of the books. The books should also be currently used in schools."
It seems as if the determining factors in selling used books are the condition of the book and whether the book is currently used in schools. Dog ears, scribbles in pages, discolored and missing pages will decrease the sale value of your used book. If your books are in poor condition or the edition that you have is outdated then why not recycle them? 'Waste not, want not'. In short, there are a variety of opportunities for used books that includes saving them for younger siblings or selling them to book stores or even at book fairs or recycling them.