Why you Need Half Price Books in Your Life

John Guillen40 Comments

Four times a week I drive right by my local Half Price Books store. I do it twice. And my thinking has always been that I don’t have any reason to go into Barnes and Noble, so I likely don’t need to be going into Half Price Books. Oh, how wrong I was.

I signed up for their mailing list a long time ago and maybe two or three times a year they’ll send out coupons for specific days ranging from 30 percent off an item to 50 percent off. I’d never used the coupons before because I’m stubborn. This weekend I decided I might as well use one and see what it’s like in the store. It was heaven! First, there were way more people shopping than I expected on a late Sunday afternoon. And second, it made me want to buy ALL THE BOOKS. I don’t know what the exact percentages are, but I’d say that maybe 90 percent of all the books they sell are used. I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned dozens of times that I don’t care much for used books. But you get to pick from thousands of hardcovers at less (usually) than half the price the publishers set for them. Which means paperbacks are typically in the $3-$5 range. AND I found many books to be in exceptional condition.

But there’s more if I still haven’t convinced you. They obviously need to get those used books from somewhere, right? Well they’ll buy yours! I’m not someone who would ever sell my books to them because I have no desire to get rid of any of them, but I know people are always trying to figure out what to do with all the books they don’t need. I say take them to Half Price Books and be sure that someone else will enjoy them at some point in the future.

You can find your local location here.

I’ll show you my first haul from Half Price Books tomorrow.

Have you ever sold your books to or bought from Half Price Books?

On this day in 2014 I published Book Club, Anyone?.

 

40 thoughts on “Why you Need Half Price Books in Your Life”

  1. I have never sold my books to a HPB, but my parents do regularly. Once, this led to me picking up a book I remembered reading as a child, only to realize it was my mother’s copy–it was a paperback, and there was a minor but distinctive tear on the front cover. I was with friends, and I told them, and they laughed and told me to buy it, but I’m hoping by now it’s gone to a good home with someone who hadn’t already read it three times.

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  2. I love Half Price Books. I actually just sold a bunch of my late mother’s paperbacks and some hard covers. They buy records, cds, dvds, and ereaders too. As a warning, you do not get a lot for your books. They donate or recycle what they can’t sell. For about 50 paperbacks and 20 hardcovers, I got 13 dollars. I could try and sell them online but then I would have to ship them individually. Your mileage may vary as to whether HPB is worth it.

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    • I guess you’ve forgotten that new books are not expensive. And they’re selling books ultra cheap. It’s not like you’re going to get a lot for used books that are likely in good/acceptable condition.

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  4. Dude. Before my wife and I moved down here to Texas we lived in a suburb of Chicago. There were EIGHT HPB we would go to, especially on the days when they had their huge sales. (Three times a year–July, November, and March I believe) we’d save those days to buy boxsets and such. Not to mention always finding some hardcovers to replace our aging paperbacks.

    We really, really need a HPB here.

    Oh, and yeah, I mean like we’d hit ALL EIGHT of them in one day. Just one big ass circle of books.

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  5. I don’t have a HPB in my area, but I do have a similar store – Mr. K’s. I actually got some trade-in credit with some old DVDs, video games, and textbooks the other day and it took $25 off my $35 purchase! I was pretty stoked. And I walked away with like three DVDs and six books that day. I’m at the point where I rarely even buy new books anymore, because my $20 or $30 goes so much farther at the local used store.

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    • Hmmm. I actually think I may not buy books on Amazon as much anymore because of my experience with Half Price Books. Obviously there’ll be times when they don’t have what I’m looking for, but they had MANY books by some of my favorite authors. James Patterson had an entire shelf for himself. Seriously. My stance on used books is forever changed. Haha

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  6. One of my favorite stores. And in my area they have a once-a-year sale at a convention center that they fill to the gills with books, records, movies, etc. Everything is $2 or less at that sale. Definitely worth a visit.

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  7. I’ve never been there, but we have something similar near where I live called Book-Off. I stop by every so often just to see what they have and maybe pick up a book or two. Sometimes I sell my books there that I wasn’t crazy about or don’t think I’ll want to re-read in the future.

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