They are basically not self-sustaining. People will use them as places to dump actual literal trash books out of some misplaced belief that destroying books is wrong so they’re doing good by passing it along. Actual good books will be taken. So they deteriorate monotonically over time, therefore whenever you walk by one it’s a near certainty that all the books are entirely garbage.
It’s a given that if you operate one you will likely be on your own to provide books and stock it. Granted it depends where you live. I used to help facilitate one and it seemed to get a ton of traffic… Some visitors would take 5+ books and bring nothing in return. Sometimes somebody would donate dozens. Most people who commit to operating one of these know they will go into their own pocket to stock the thing. Thrift stores often have books for 50 cents. It’s probably worth the investment in the community. For me its kinda the least I could do.
They are basically not self-sustaining. People will use them as places to dump actual literal trash books out of some misplaced belief that destroying books is wrong so they’re doing good by passing it along. Actual good books will be taken. So they deteriorate monotonically over time, therefore whenever you walk by one it’s a near certainty that all the books are entirely garbage.
It’s a given that if you operate one you will likely be on your own to provide books and stock it. Granted it depends where you live. I used to help facilitate one and it seemed to get a ton of traffic… Some visitors would take 5+ books and bring nothing in return. Sometimes somebody would donate dozens. Most people who commit to operating one of these know they will go into their own pocket to stock the thing. Thrift stores often have books for 50 cents. It’s probably worth the investment in the community. For me its kinda the least I could do.