I've been mulling over the problem of unpostables for a while, ever since, in my ignorance, I mailed out several texts with underlining/highlighting and had to refund some credits.  I've been hanging out in the forums more than I ever had previously and reading what fellow PBS'ers think about things...or at least the ones that post in the forums :-) I have two questions...

Does PBS have an efficient system in place to help those unpostables find a good home?  I'm not talking about the trash but  the ones that are perfectly readable.  They just don't measure up to the guidelines perfectly.  How do you find the person that is looking for a decent copy of a book in order to save money and is not picky about wavy pages or cleaved spines?

AND

If you are, like me, not picky about stains or highlighting, is their an efficient system to find those books?   I am so desperate for about 85% of the books on my wishlist I would take them in *any* readable condition.  But I find I don't really have the time  to search through everyone's signatures and see what they have lurking in the shadows.  I took a little trip to the Book Bazaar and started wading through lists of unpostables.  But then I felt I was at a yard sale rummaging through boxes of books that weren't what I was looking for.  Then when I waded through everything with no luck, I "watched the topic".  When I got an e-mail I doodled over there to see what else had been added but there was no way to tell which post I had ended at without scrolling through the whole thing again looking for where I'd left off.  Tell me there's a better way :-)

The bottom line to what I'm thinking is...if there was some happy way to deal with unpostables...an easy, PBS sanctioned way, an alternate list perhaps, a way to designate unpostables on my bookshelf, a forum just for unpostables or maybe just a way to search for unpostables, I don't know...then maybe when a poster comes upon a questionable book to post they would have an alternative solution besides the trash can.  Just because a book is technically unpostable doesn't mean it has no value.  Your average PBS poster knows that and will post unpostable books because they don't know what else to do with them and they aren't ready for the trashcan (usually) :-)

So if there is a system in place, then we need to get the word out and if there isn't, then perhaps R&R need a new project to work on :-)  So how do you all give and receive unpostables?

Rebecca W.

You can list it in your signature or profile and offer one with an order.  You could list them in the book bazaar if you are willing to mail them individually at your expense with no credits being exchanged.  It's the top thread. 

Just a couple of ideas.  Agreed many of those books are quite readable, but just don't meet the swapping guidelines.  I'd suggest listing what is wrong with the book as well.

I trade all mine for free in the Book Bazaar's Damaged Book thread. We send them out with no strings attached and I have gotten some great books that way. I too am not very picky about condtions, but respect fully what PBS deems credit worthy. When ever I have a few books that wont pass the "Is it postable?"  test, I post there. I find there is a nice number of us that pass books back and forth, and I usually find something there at least once a month or so.

I've found that putting them in my signature and spending time on the forums is the best way for me to send out my unpostables. Usually I'm contacted pretty quickly by someone who wants them. As for finding them...mostly I keep an eye on signatures or go for the free-for-all yard sale of the book bazaar. If you're looking for anything specific you can always post what you're looking for there and see if someone comes to you :-).

You'll also see people posting in the Book Bazaar things like "Order a book from my shelf and choose one of these unpostables for free..."

You know text books are allowed to have some writing and underlining.  You are just supposed to PM the person first with a description of the book.  Then they can cancel if they don't want it anymore. Just choose the longest mailing option so you have time to wait for a response. 

You could search the forum for the title of the book you're looking for.  If you have lots of wishlist books, that could take some time, but you could start with the one you wanted the most.  (Of course, it would take me even more time to decide which one that was ... LOL)