My retirement plan was to frequent thrift stores and sell books and movies at various shows. I left work early due to intense pain in my legs. Social Security is nice, but I was hoping for other ways to augment our finances.
It hasn't worked out so well. Oh, I go to thrift shops nearly every day, but pickings aren’t thin. They are nearly nonexistent.
Just this morning I entered a DAV thrift store I’ve been going to for many years. I went to the movie shelves and there were already a couple of guys there. They were trying to elbow each other out of the way while using their accursed scanners on their phones to scan titles to see their value.
Scanners are nothing new, but it’s reached epidemic proportions. They’re always out there, checking to see if they can make a buck or two from movies or books.
These people tend to be the worst behaved individuals in the shops. You know why? Because they don’t care a single thing about cinema or literature. They are only looking for a way to make a buck.
I am a reseller, but it means more to me than money. It’s not like I am making much in the first place. I love this stuff and just having cool movies in my possession for a while gives me a thrill. I don’t charge a lot. I love when someone, a genuine fan, fidns something special at my tables.
Once again technology is not my friend. Who profits from the proliferation of phone scanning? Certainly not those who developed knowledge, experience, and instinct about the subject. No, the mental midgets are the ones who benefit.
I hate the people who use them. I know, I know, they have a perfect right to do so. It’s not illegal. Well, I have the right to despise them, don’t I? Plus, as I mentioned above, they tend to be severely lacking in manners.
It’s like the long painful process of learning to draw or paint, then AI comes along and takes away all the skill involved. Imagination is still required, but not the practical skill of actually creating something.
I can beat the brainless cretins with their scanners. If, that is, we are standing next to each other. They have to lift every title and check it, while I can look down a row and see what is there. My brain is my scanner.
The only thing is, I am outnumbered. They are legion and like the spawns of hell they bring upon destruction.
It’s mostly movies these days. Thanks to Grady Hendrix it’s nearly impossible to find decent horror books in the thrift stores.
It isn’t just the customers. Staff members are doing the same thing, only they have all the time in the world to check the donations.
And then! Thrifting has become incredibly trendy. Prices have gone crazy. I was in a CHKD thrift shop, and I saw a hardcover of George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle’s Windhaven. I never really liked the novel, but I checked it out. Ten dollars! Ten goddamn dollars at a place that is supposed to have bargains. The same store had a copy of Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher in hardcover. It had a lot of water damage and I wouldn't 't even sell it for one dollar. Their price? $6.99.
They ought to call it a Gouge Store.
If that isn’t bad enough, when you check out, they ask for more money. Everyone has their hands out for more of our precious, hard-won income. “Round it up for the children?”
I can’t verify this, but I heard that the round up money is considered a gift and they can do anything they like with it. I’ve become cynical and I trust no organized charity. I don’t blame the ones asking. They’ll be in hot water and eventually lose their lousy, slave wage jobs if they don’t ask. I never, ever, give them even a single penny.
What of library sales? They were the last bastion. The one place left where you could find cool books for low prices. Not anymore.
It’s been a long time since I found anything good at a library sale. Even the old fossil volunteers are on the scanner bandwagon.
I was at a library sale recently and a volunteer asked me if I was “finding everything”. I bit back a sarcastic reply. I said I never seem to find much anymore. She eventually told me the valuable books are kept in a room in the back.
“Can I see them?”
“No. We put them up for sale on alibris”.
“What about the local public you are supposed to be serving? What about the taxpayers?”
“Uh…you can check our alibris page to see our books”
That was such a stupid statement I almost screamed back, “WHY WOULD I BOTHER TO FAVOR YOUR BOOKS IF YOU ARE SELLING THEM AT THE SAME PRICES EVERYONE ELSE IS SELLING THEM?!?”
I try to remain calm. It isn’t this woman’s fault. She’s volunteering her time. Plus, everyone is struggling and if they can get thirty dollars for a book instead of two dollars, who can blame them? It benefits the library. I don’t have to like it and I damned sure don’t.
You ever notice that whenever an organization initiates cost-saving strategies, it’s the little guy who gets hurt?
I still find an occasional cool movie. It’s rarer than four-leaf clovers, but it happens.
I retired from my machinist job, and I may be retiring from bookselling soon. Once again, it will be from necessity rather than choice. We had a great sale at the last Authorcon show, but product is going out and new items aren’t coming in very quickly.
I shouldn’t complain. I still have my health, all our needs are covered, and I’ll never run out of books and movies to enjoy. Still, I hate to see Horror Drive-In Books and Media get ground under the wheels of corporate progress as happens with so many other small businesses.
Written by Mark Sieber
It hasn't worked out so well. Oh, I go to thrift shops nearly every day, but pickings aren’t thin. They are nearly nonexistent.
Just this morning I entered a DAV thrift store I’ve been going to for many years. I went to the movie shelves and there were already a couple of guys there. They were trying to elbow each other out of the way while using their accursed scanners on their phones to scan titles to see their value.
Scanners are nothing new, but it’s reached epidemic proportions. They’re always out there, checking to see if they can make a buck or two from movies or books.
These people tend to be the worst behaved individuals in the shops. You know why? Because they don’t care a single thing about cinema or literature. They are only looking for a way to make a buck.
I am a reseller, but it means more to me than money. It’s not like I am making much in the first place. I love this stuff and just having cool movies in my possession for a while gives me a thrill. I don’t charge a lot. I love when someone, a genuine fan, fidns something special at my tables.
Once again technology is not my friend. Who profits from the proliferation of phone scanning? Certainly not those who developed knowledge, experience, and instinct about the subject. No, the mental midgets are the ones who benefit.
I hate the people who use them. I know, I know, they have a perfect right to do so. It’s not illegal. Well, I have the right to despise them, don’t I? Plus, as I mentioned above, they tend to be severely lacking in manners.
It’s like the long painful process of learning to draw or paint, then AI comes along and takes away all the skill involved. Imagination is still required, but not the practical skill of actually creating something.
I can beat the brainless cretins with their scanners. If, that is, we are standing next to each other. They have to lift every title and check it, while I can look down a row and see what is there. My brain is my scanner.
The only thing is, I am outnumbered. They are legion and like the spawns of hell they bring upon destruction.
It’s mostly movies these days. Thanks to Grady Hendrix it’s nearly impossible to find decent horror books in the thrift stores.
It isn’t just the customers. Staff members are doing the same thing, only they have all the time in the world to check the donations.
And then! Thrifting has become incredibly trendy. Prices have gone crazy. I was in a CHKD thrift shop, and I saw a hardcover of George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle’s Windhaven. I never really liked the novel, but I checked it out. Ten dollars! Ten goddamn dollars at a place that is supposed to have bargains. The same store had a copy of Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher in hardcover. It had a lot of water damage and I wouldn't 't even sell it for one dollar. Their price? $6.99.
They ought to call it a Gouge Store.
If that isn’t bad enough, when you check out, they ask for more money. Everyone has their hands out for more of our precious, hard-won income. “Round it up for the children?”
I can’t verify this, but I heard that the round up money is considered a gift and they can do anything they like with it. I’ve become cynical and I trust no organized charity. I don’t blame the ones asking. They’ll be in hot water and eventually lose their lousy, slave wage jobs if they don’t ask. I never, ever, give them even a single penny.
What of library sales? They were the last bastion. The one place left where you could find cool books for low prices. Not anymore.
It’s been a long time since I found anything good at a library sale. Even the old fossil volunteers are on the scanner bandwagon.
I was at a library sale recently and a volunteer asked me if I was “finding everything”. I bit back a sarcastic reply. I said I never seem to find much anymore. She eventually told me the valuable books are kept in a room in the back.
“Can I see them?”
“No. We put them up for sale on alibris”.
“What about the local public you are supposed to be serving? What about the taxpayers?”
“Uh…you can check our alibris page to see our books”
That was such a stupid statement I almost screamed back, “WHY WOULD I BOTHER TO FAVOR YOUR BOOKS IF YOU ARE SELLING THEM AT THE SAME PRICES EVERYONE ELSE IS SELLING THEM?!?”
I try to remain calm. It isn’t this woman’s fault. She’s volunteering her time. Plus, everyone is struggling and if they can get thirty dollars for a book instead of two dollars, who can blame them? It benefits the library. I don’t have to like it and I damned sure don’t.
You ever notice that whenever an organization initiates cost-saving strategies, it’s the little guy who gets hurt?
I still find an occasional cool movie. It’s rarer than four-leaf clovers, but it happens.
I retired from my machinist job, and I may be retiring from bookselling soon. Once again, it will be from necessity rather than choice. We had a great sale at the last Authorcon show, but product is going out and new items aren’t coming in very quickly.
I shouldn’t complain. I still have my health, all our needs are covered, and I’ll never run out of books and movies to enjoy. Still, I hate to see Horror Drive-In Books and Media get ground under the wheels of corporate progress as happens with so many other small businesses.
Written by Mark Sieber
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