book sale

I've crossed the county line for the second time since the end of February.

I was headed for the nearest outlet of Half Price Books, in Fremont, to sell them some surplus books.

These books had been sitting in our garage since early March, ready to be sold, but I didn't get around to it before the pandemic hit. There they would stay, until I noticed that Half Price had reopened.

Their rules have changed, though. You have to make a reservation, and they limit the number of books - to two banker's boxes, which are smaller than packing boxes, or three shopping bags. I chose the bags, since we have those. It covered about 2/3 of what I'd had. I chose what I thought were the more saleable items. The old reference books I'd inherited from my mother's pre-marital editing career (a Webster's biographical dictionary, a Roget's thesaurus) and which I've abandoned for internet sources, no.

Also, they'll no longer take books they think they can't sell, so there will be returns. Fortunately not too many. Less than half of one of the three bags, so they took over 80%. Not for much money, but at least they'll go somewhere useful.

Quick trip. Little traffic, nearly empty store. There and back again in less than two hours, even counting some grocery shopping on the way back.