The Tuesday I pulled 11 boxes of abandoned library stock from a dumpster in Tacoma

Everyone always says garage sales and estate sales are where the gold hides, but my best single day was behind a library that was clearing out their discards. I saw the janitor stacking boxes marked 'recycle' and asked if I could look before they hit the truck. Found a 1967 first printing of The Haunting of Hill House with the original dust jacket, no library stamps inside, just a sticker on the spine. Also snagged a 1972 Ursula K. Le Guin collection that somehow never got checked out, cost me nothing but 20 minutes of sorting. That one day beat my last three months of flea markets combined, and I bet most folks walk right past those dumpsters. Has anyone else had luck with library giveaway piles or is it just me?

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karenf4023d agoMost Upvoted

Pulled over on my way to work once when I saw a church library tossing boxes of old paperbacks, and I found a signed copy of a local author's first novel just sitting on top like someone left it there on purpose. Took me about 15 minutes to sort through everything, and I ended up with about 30 books total, including a complete set of those old Bantam dystopian classics from the 70s. The best part was the librarian told me they had more in the back room, so I helped them carry out the trash and they let me take a second box that had some real gems. I think most people see dumpsters and just keep walking, but libraries and churches usually toss stuff that's still totally readable and sometimes even valuable. That one stop turned into my best haul of the year, and I've been checking behind every library in my county ever since.