Where To Get Your Book Inventory At Zero Cost

Your book inventory will come from high school book rooms. Most people will be able to remember what their high school book room looked like before they graduated. The room would often be overflowing to the point that textbooks were stacked on the floor, on carts, in boxes and on any other available flat surface. In most instances this jam-packed and bursting at the seams condition hasn’t changed since you left school.

The person in charge of the average high school book room is usually overwhelmed by their duties. The tendency of the book room person to be weighed down is a result of not being able to get rid of aged or extra book inventory. New books arrive regularly but old books are not removed on a systematic schedule.

The person in charge of the book room is not allowed to just toss the old books into the trash. Book room people endeavor to establish agreements with the corporate book companies to pick up their old textbooks. But these agreements are frequently just lip service agreements on the parts of the corporate book companies. The large book companies assure the book room person that they will remove their old books in exchange for being able to have first choice at the books that will be replaced by a new adoption.

The problem is large textbook company representatives will usually  only make an appearance at a book room to get the books they are specifically interested in - those books with market value. The company rep will delay, procrastinate and arrange for partial take-alls.  They do only enough to appease the book room person and get out with the books. During the period in-between visits from the representative the book room person drowns in unwanted textbooks. Each day the book room person grows more anxious over the question of what to do with the excess inventory. The book room person can sometimes wait for eight months or a year before a representative from a book company decides to make an appearance. In the meantime the book room person needs help and space in their book rooms immediately! They need the book company representative to make arrangements for a take-all ASAP! To make matters worse book room personnel are frequently under intense pressure from their administration office to get rid of the excess inventory. From the perspective of the administration having excess books all over the place make the entire operation look disorganized and incompetent. But they can’t just trash the books! Trashing the books is prohibited.

This is where people like me, and now you, insert ourselves into the scenario. We make contact with the person in charge with the book room and offer to do what the corporate representative merely said they would do. And we will do it now!  This will work to your advantage. Because the floundering book room person doesn’t need the help now,  they needed it yesterday. When you announce that you are willing to bail them out of their dilemma you start to look like a modern day Knight in shinning armor.

The book room person really needs your help but may not have the authority to just allow you to come and get the textbooks.  The textbooks are State Property.  There is a bureaucracy at every school and the book room person will have to get approval from someone above her before she can give you State Property.

Locating Schools And Contacting Book Room Staff - part 1

There are numerous ways to locate high school and intermediate school bookrooms. Using the white pages is one method. If you live in a thinly populated town or small city you may already know where all of the eligible schools are to be found. If you live in a large metropolitan area like I do, locating bookrooms can be more problematic. In my county there seems to be a school tucked away every couple of miles. Schools of every grade level and type. I encounter schools all of the time that I previously never knew existed. In a situation similar to mine it will helpful if you use a school locator.

There is a very useful website that I came across right after I started my textbook business which locates kindergarten though 12^th grade schools across the country. The web address of the site is:

http://www.k12guides.com/school-locator.html  

The name of the site is appropriately, K12Guides. The K12Guides has been a real Godsend to my business. It provides me with nearly all of the information I need to locate potential bookrooms with just a few mouse clicks and keystrokes.

When you go to the K12Guides website the first thing you will see is a map of the United States. Place your cursor on the area of the map where you would like to locate a school and left click your mouse. The map will reformat with a zoomed in view of the area. From this magnified view you will see red, green, blue and purple marker flags on the map. Each flag represents the location of a particular type of school. Elementary schools are represented by red flags. Middle schools are represented by blue flags. High schools are represented by green flags and other types of schools like vocational and alternative schools are represented by purple flags. You can drag the map left, right, up and down by left clicking your mouse and holding down on the button. From here you can position the map on the screen wherever you like.

On the upper right side of the map page you will see three vertically aligned boxes accompanied by drop down menus. These boxes can be used to help you hone in on the exact type of school you are looking for.
Under the three vertical boxes you will see a larger grey toned rectangular box with a list of schools inside. This list correlates and corresponds to the flagged schools on the map in the center of your browser screen. The list in the rectangular box will change and update as you drag the map.

Beneath the map you will see two magnifying glass icons. Clicking on them will expand or reduce the view of the map. You can expand your map view to help isolate the green or blue flags on your screen. After you have magnified your view of the mapped area to your liking place your cursor on one of the green or blue flags and click. A popup will appear.

Below is a cut and pasted example for the type of information that will appear in the popup.

Locating Schools And Contacting Book Room Staff - part 2

Mulvane Academy
Grade 9 - Grade 12
430 E. Main
Mulvane, KS 67110
(316) 253-4106
School District:
 Mulvane

Locating Schools And Contacting Book Room Staff - part 3

Mulvane Academy (Mulvane, KS) - contact info, student demographics

High School at 430 E. Main Mulvane, KS (Mulvane) (316) 253-4106 (phone). The grades at Mulvane Academy range from 9th - 12th Grade. ... See also: current job listings & postings in and near Mulvane, KS ... 20 students attended Mulvane Academy in the 2006-2007 school year

www.muninetguide.com/schools/KS/Mulvane/Mulvane-Academy

Locating Schools And Contacting Book Room Staff - part 4

Click the link above for the school and you will be redirected to Mulvane Academy’s homepage. When you reach the homepage you will look for any link or button which provides faculty contact information. All school homepages are formatted differently so you will have scan over the

You can follow the afore mentioned Google search method for finding any school home page. Faculty email addresses are publicly available on the school's official webpage's table of contents to help you find what you are searching for. The email address you are seeking can be listed in various ways. It could be listed as Textbook Room. If there is not a listing for the Textbook Room to forward your email to look for the Purchasing Agent or Finance Secretary. If there is not a Purchasing Agent or Finance Secretary send your email to the Librarian or to the Assistant Principle. As a last resort you can send out a mass emailing to any and every address listed for the school. I have done this more than once. One or more of the email recipients will direct your inquiry where it can be properly address. In due course you will get the response you were searching for.

What To Say When You Contact The Schools

You should paraphrase something similar to what follows when you contact your selected school. This script will work regardless of if the contact is made by telephone, in person or by email.

“Hello. My name is (your first and last name here) . I’m a book recycler calling to see if you currently have any surplus book inventory that you may need to clear from your book room”.

Because almost all textbooks rooms have loose agreement with larger corporate book company representatives your inquest may be met with a response like this:  “No. We have someone to handle our books.”

Keep in mind that in almost all cases the book room person only believe  that they have someone to handle their books. What they most likely have is a disingenuous corporate rep who stops by periodically for what equates to a book booty-call. The rep drops in for their visit when they want to get particular books with value and is missing in action at all other times.

 

If the book room person says no a second time it does not mean no forever. The book room person does not have the authority to just give you the books or throw them away. She has to get approval from school administrators before doing anything with the inventory entrusted to her.

Your next step will be to allow a week to go by. Then go to the school in person and introduce yourself to the book room staff.  In the seven days that you allow to pass between your initial contact and when you actually show up to introduce yourself the book room person will have had time to think over your offer. They will have thought it over a lot.  Dependent upon how disorganized and overstocked their book room is. The book room person can and will get approval from whomever necessary to do whatever they see fit with the book inventory if they are properly motivated.

When you actually meet the book room person I recommend you say something like this: “I was in the area and thought I would stop by and put a face to the voice on the phone” (or put a face to the email, whichever is the case).  Then you should remind the book room person that you can come in and cart off their problem inventory at their convenience.

By presenting yourself in person you are in a better position to get your hands on the books. In addition it will give the book room person needed familiarity with you. They will gather that you are serious about providing

So if you get a response like the one above you will follow up and say something like this: “Yes, I felt you might. But I guarantee that I able to serve and assist you better. I can make your job as a book room manager a lot easier. For instance, if you need to clean up and organize your cluttered book room I can come out, at no cost, and take away most if not all of your unwanted material. I’m available to do this whenever you need me. You tell me when and I will be there.”

prompt and enthusiastic service when required. Your intention is to impress upon her that you are different from the corporate textbook representative. You will be there when she needs you. On her schedule. Your willingness to cater to her needs will be important to her success as a book room manager. If the book room person feels excessive loyalty to the corporate textbook representative you can suggest that she allow you to only take away a portion of her overstocked inventory. There are enough books in the school book room for everyone. You just have to help her come to this realization.  Be persistent with the book room person but don’t become a nuisance. If she does not make arrangements for you to carry away books after you have made your personal appearance leave your business card. You should also remind her that she can reach you by telephone, email or text message at anytime. Touch bases with her by telephone or in person again a month or so later. Don’t allow her to forget you. She might if forget her. It will only be a matter of time before she calls in need of your services. Once she does your foot most likely will be in the door forever.

If you secure a take-all appointment while you are there, during your in-person visit, make an effort to get a list of ISBN numbers from the books to be carried off.  If you can get ISBN numbers then and there you can look the value of those books up on Amazon.com, Half.com or Bigwords.com before you are due back to execute the take-all. If you know in advance which books have value you can go directly from the school to the paper recycler. You can then be fully aware of which books are okay to discard. Whatever is left can go home with you to be sold.