A Fight Breaks Out at the Used Book Sale
So our church used book sale, which I'm largely coordinating, started today. I've had complaints from members about 1) the fact that I chose to do the sale in the social hall rather than the religious education (RE) building because it interferes with coffee hour (my reasons: it's larger, it interferes less with RE, and members can shop while they drink their coffee) and 2) the prices I set (0.50 paberback, 1.00 trade paperback, 1.50 hardcover). But the sale started off well with about ten people arriving as soon as the doors were opened. They all seemed pleased with our organization and with the quality and quantity. And the people shopping all said our prices seemed reasonable (maybe TOO reasonable, I think).
The first woman in the doors actually arrived at ten before the hour that the sale was scheduled to start, but I said, sure, go ahead and look. She promptly started throwing all the general fiction trade paperbacks into boxes, and took nearly all of them. She then went to get her shopping cart and came back in with it. Meanwhile, other shoppers were arriving and starting to shop as well.
Then one shopper says to me, "You should have a policy against scanners."
I said, "huh?"
She said, "She [the first woman in] is scanning all the books to see what she'll buy. You should have a policy against that." (A very boring video is now included in the comments to explain this process.)
I said, "I'm okay with anyone buying the books, whatever."
A little while later, I ask Scanner Woman, "Do you own a store, or do you sell books on E-Bay?" She tells me she's a retired librarian, and now this is what she does. Hmm, I think, that doesn't really answer the question, but whatever.
So Irate Woman starts grumbling that Scanner Woman has taken all the good books and is scanning all the books and taking them all. Scanner Woman retaliates by saying that she has only scanned two tables, and there are lots of books. (She didn't scan all those trade paperbacks, she tells me later, she just knew they were good and she wanted them, and took them.) So there are still three tables she hasn't even been to yet. Irate Woman counters with the fact that she has swept through four or five tables already.
So Irate Woman comes up and buys her $20 or so worth of books, and tells me she's never coming back because this isn't fair to those who are trying to "do things honestly."
I said, "Well, this is the first time we've done this book sale. We didn't have a policy, and I couldn't just make one up on the spot. We'll certainly consider it for next time, but for right now she's not breaking any rules."
Irate Woman leaves with reiterating her grievance and refusal to return.
Scanner Woman checks out shortly after, apologoizing for the fact that the other woman made a scene and that I had to deal with it. I told her that she wasn't violating any policy, and that we might consider one in the future, but right now I didn't see any problem with it. Scanner Woman points out that she bought $147 worth of books, and the other woman less than $20, and the other woman isn't coming back, but she will, because we had good quality books at good prices. She said she would've still bought a lot of books without the scanner, but not nearly as many.
And, she said, if we do it at this time again next year, it's a good time of year to do a book sale. I said it was our first one, so we'll see what the congregation thinks about repeating it.
And then she left. Whew. The first hour was over, and we made $200. Over the rest of the day we didn't double that.
P.S. I was trying to put a lj cut in here and trying to put a poll in here, and it keeps messing up. So if they're showing or not showing and it's irritating either way, I apologize. Meanwhile, I was trying to ask what you all think about whether or not scanning books should be allowed at used book sales.