# Books without covers...Why are they stolen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-without-covers-why-are-they-stolen/472910 "2008-11-15T22:20:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-without-covers-why-are-they-stolen/472910/81 "2008-11-20T22:44:54Z")
**chorpler** still hasn’t responded how he reads a _paper_ book in the shower. **guizot** said: > [@](#): > > Okay, but what am I supposed to do if I somehow get a “stripped” book in my hands. I’m I supposed to go to the police or something? Report it to someone? Depends upon how you acquired the stripped book. If you found it in the street, picked it up and then noticed the notice, it really isn’t going to hurt anyone to read it before you pitch it. Unless it has cooties[sup]1[/sup] from lying in the street. If you come across some guy at a flea market selling a pile of coverless books, you shouldn’t buy from him. He’s a thief. Yeah, a petty, low-level thief, but still a thief. But then so is a bootleg copy of a movie, and there are plenty of people who wouldn’t steal a DVD from a store but will buy a bootleg DVD at discount price, so there you go. If [sup]2[/sup] you come across a bookstore or pharmacy or convenience store selling books without covers, then you should report them to the publisher. Sending a nice quick letter (or email if you can find a webpage with address) and let them know the store and location. Then they can investigate and take whatever repercussions they desire. It probably won’t do any good to contact the local police. I’m not sure if it fits their jurisdiction, or if they will take any interest. **Exapno Mapcase** said: > [@](#): > > If you know of the actual source of the stripped book, complain to the manager. One of the employees is light-fingered, and that should concern everybody. I assume you are talking about a situation where someone is selling a book and you realize they work for WaldenNoble’s. If you actually find them on sale at WaldenNoble’s, then the manager probably already knows, and telling him won’t do much. **DrDeth** said: > [@](#): > > Recently, I worked for Borders, and we were supposed to throw out the stripped books, but they also had a policy to follow local law, and San Jose requires recycling (there’s no real penalty yet, mind you). So I put the books into the recycle bin instead, and the Manager agreed with me. But she said “Let’s not make a big deal about this either way. We are damned if we do and damned if we don’t, so let’s just quietly recycle.” Is your recycling set out on the front curb in high foot traffic and visibility? Or behind the store in the alleyway with the dumpster? Is there much risk of a string of patrons walking around to the back of the store to rummage your dumpster/recycle bin for bargains? I think you are complying with the intent of the disposal law - you are disposing of them rather than selling them or giving them away free to customers as door prizes. **DrDeth** said: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by **guizot** > > But do I hurt the author if I read it and then toss it in the trash? > > You hurt the author if you read your free copy instead of buying a copy. Only as much as you hurt the author when you borrow a copy from a friend rather than buy a new copy. Or borrow it from the library. As long as you wouldn’t buy it at all anyway, and you don’t sell it, there is no impact to the author. \*\*Mr. Slant \*\* said: > [@](#): > > There’s a chance that in the future, you’ll decide to pay for it and read it. True, but also true is that you could read it and decide that you like the book and buy a copy, or decide you like the author and buy another book by that author because you read their work. That is part of why Baen gives free electronic books. They think people will get hooked buy reading the free electronic copies and then buy the other books in the series’. YMMV. \*\*guizot \*\* said: > [@](#): > > Well, yes, but the question is whether I hurt the author by reading the book before destroying it. Let’s assume that it’s a book I wouldn’t pay cover price for. But someone says,“Here, this is a cheap book to pass your time on the subway,” so I buy it at a cheap price. Then I see that the cover’s been stripped, and that the publisher is saying that I’ve bought a stripped book. It was just a means of getting rid of something that wouldn’t’ve resulted in anything different. If you didn’t know it was stolen before you bought it, then it isn’t really going to hurt anyone for you to read it then pitch it. Economically, the case can be made that reading it makes it more likely you will buy something from that author in the future, so it is something of a wash whether the remote possibility you would pay for that book in the future ethically balances the remote possibility you would read the book and decide to buy a new copy or buy something else by that author. Yes, technically, you are receiving stolen property, so how strict is your ethical meter? As explained before, nowadays picking up the one-off book here and there without a cover is not something that authors or publishers worry much about. They are concerned about large-scale theft that was predominant years ago, but fairly rare nowadays. **acsenray** said: > [@](#): > > Replace “book” with “B.M.W.” Someone illegally acquires a B.M.W. and sells it to you on the cheap. Are you harming anyone by keeping it? The situations are not equivalent. \*\*acsenray \*\* said: > [@](#): > > Party A: I will pay Party B $X for this car. All I want is to destroy this car, so I’ll trust Party B to take it to the crusher. > Party B: Takes the money but instead sells **guizot** the car. Not quite the same. Here is the situation: BMW: Party A, sell this car for me and pay me $X for every one sold, or send me the driver’s floor mat as proof you destroyed the car. Party A: I didn’t sell the car. Here is the driver’s floor mat, so I don’t owe you any money. Hey, Party B, want to buy a new BMW? It’s just missing the floor mat. Arguably, if BMW really wants to ensure Party A doesn’t cheat them, they will require more than just the floor mat as proof it didn’t sell. The fact that BMW pays out on such flimsy evidence is very naive. But the expense of making a BMW vastly exceeds the cost to ship one around from place to place. The margins on books are a lot thinner. * * * [sup]1[/sup] Okay, sticky pages, oil, whatever. [sup]2[/sup] I did say _if_. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-without-covers-why-are-they-stolen/472910/82 "2008-11-20T23:00:53Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > **chorpler** still hasn’t responded how he reads a _paper_ book in the shower. Heh heh … oops, didn’t see that question before. Basically, I just keep it out of the line of the shower and away from the spray. It would work a lot better if I weren’t so nearsighted that I have to hold the book within four inches of my eyes to read it; that’s so close that I’d have to cross my eyes to see with both eyes, so I used to close one eye to make it easier. Recently I bought an eyepatch, though, so now I just use that. Oh, and I hold the book with my right hand, and use my left hand to wash my hair, soap up, etc. About ten years ago, I think, I mentioned this offhandedly in a discussion about e-books in a forum on the Hatrack River site, and Orson Scott Card replied “I find this fascinating. How on earth do you read in the shower?” ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-without-covers-why-are-they-stolen/472910/83 "2008-11-20T23:11:38Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > Ugh. We should start a book signing horror stories thread, but we might scare away potential authors 😉 I’ve heard famous authors talk about the signing where they did not sell one book. Elmore Leonard was in Denver a few years ago, and the manager would not let him sign stock at the Waldenbooks unless he bought them–can’t write in the merchandise! But I have them all beat, heh heh. Not just no books. I sold minus 48.\* ETA: and that is assuming that the 2 books at the remote B&N that stripped the rest of them actually sold, and didn’t also get stripped and sent back sooner or later, and it probably would have been sooner. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-without-covers-why-are-they-stolen/472910/84 "2008-11-20T23:18:48Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > **chorpler** still hasn’t responded how he reads a _paper_ book in the shower. > > [B **DrDeth** said: > Is your recycling set out on the front curb in high foot traffic and visibility? Or behind the store in the alleyway with the dumpster? Is there much risk of a string of patrons walking around to the back of the store to rummage your dumpster/recycle bin for bargains? I think you are complying with the intent of the disposal law - you are disposing of them rather than selling them or giving them away free to customers as door prizes. > > \*. Yes, I’d still like to hear that! 😃 No, the recycle bins were in a disposal area, chained off from the public, with some security. True, the other employees in that “mall” could rifle thru with some freedom, but it’d be fairly difficult for the public to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-without-covers-why-are-they-stolen/472910/85 "2008-11-21T19:50:38Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I’ve heard famous authors talk about the signing where they did not sell one book. Elmore Leonard was in Denver a few years ago, and the manager would not let him sign stock at the Waldenbooks unless he bought them–can’t write in the merchandise! > > But I have them all beat, heh heh. Not just no books. I sold minus 48.\* I’ve never quite hit zero, but I had a signing at Hastings once that was saved only by a pity sale to an employee. I’ve had quite a few where we sold just a handful. The other side of the equation is embarrassing, too. I had an author in my bookstore while his book was on the New York Times bestseller list and we sold two copies (despite advertising and signage). He was really gracious about it, but he had to be wondering what’s wrong with this town. Then, on the flip side, I’ve had signings here with obscure local authors that sold tons of books. Oh, well. If I could predict it, I’d be a wealthy man. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-without-covers-why-are-they-stolen/472910/86 "2008-11-21T21:19:54Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > I’ve never quite hit zero, but I had a signing at Hastings once that was saved only by a pity sale to an employee. I’ve had a zero sales signing. I also had a reading for which not one person showed up, even accidentally. Weirdly, my best reading was at the worst location. It took place at a con in Niagara Falls. Every con-related function was on the first floor, except for the readings, which were in the last room at the end of the corridor on the top floor. Obviously there was no walk-by traffic at all, yet the room was packed. (And Ramsey Campbell complimented me on my story afterward, which was also very nice.) These things are totally unpredictable. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-without-covers-why-are-they-stolen/472910/87 "2008-11-21T21:38:51Z")
One time I was doing a series of signings over three days, all in the same area. The publicity people had scheduled all of them for the same time, and I asked if the first one could be pushed back a couple of hours, since I was driving and I would have had to get started very early. They said “no problem” and changed all of the publicity materials. Except the signs on the doors and all over that first store. I showed up a 2:00 only to find that people had arrived at noon, waited an hour, and left in disgust. _sigh_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-without-covers-why-are-they-stolen/472910.md?page=4)