Borders to donate "non-returnable" goods but will keep trashing most unsold books

Since employees first spoke out and started this campaign on Nov. 30, Borders has dragged its feet, refusing to stop trashing any of the books being destroyed while 182 Waldenbooks and Borders Express stores close down. They've repeatedly denied trashing books. Nearly two months later, with ten days to go before the store closings end, almost 10,000 people have stood up to tell Borders to show some leadership.

Our request was a simple one – for Borders to use this opportunity to take a stand against its own industry's wasteful practices, and pledge to work with publishers to find a way to donate the unsold books instead of destroying them.

Despite our pleas, hundreds of thousands of books have already been trashed.


Trashed books at Borders in California, 1/19. Photo by employee who sent this txt msg: "they dumpstered thousands last night - not recycled"

Borders may have been hoping to stonewall this issue until the store closings ended. But now that the story has spread widely in the blogosphere, on Facebook, and via Twitter, Borders has announced a gesture to donate some goods destined for the dumpsters to non-profits. It would have been PR suicide for them not to. And that's the right thing to do, it fulfills part of what their customers and book lovers everywhere who have signed onto this campaign have been calling for. We applaud Borders for taking a step in the right direction.

However, this announcement doesn't tell the whole story. Borders is only planning to donate "non-returnable" goods. These include many of the store-brand items that employees came forward this week to reveal had been regularly dumpstered:

http://donatenotdumpster.blogspot.com/2010/01/not-just-books-last-week-i-had-to.html

such as stationary, gift items, pens, pencils, blank journals, greeting cards, and art supplies. And also some books that for whatever reason can’t be returned to publishers.

But the vast majority of unsold mass-market books at Borders stores (like the ones in the above photo) are still going to be trashed. This gesture doesn't mean Borders has agreed to stop destroying books.

And that's a big problem. It's what we've been trying to raise awareness about since this campaign began by shining a light on the books being trashed while Borders closes 182 stores.

For a fuller picture of what Borders plans to donate, here's part of what was posted yesterday (1/20) on Bookmark, the company's internal website:

(Click to view larger sizes)



In the post, Borders offers several reasons to justify not moving to change its ways when it comes to trashing unsold books ("mass market returnables") that will continue to have their covers stripped and be disposed of. It also, ironically, points out how few books of this type remain in the closing Waldenbooks store locations after hundreds of thousands have already been trashed, since they are "working on a solve" in order to "get this limited amount of product to a recycler."

Kudos to Borders for now trying to start recycling the trashed books, because until employees spoke out last month, books went straight into dumpsters at all stores that lack recycling programs. Why recycling initiatives haven't been in place at all Borders stores for years is mystifying. But the books are still being discarded.

Borders is not the only book chain doing this, and big publishers are also to blame.

But as the ones carrying out the actual destruction of books in most cases, retailers have a responsibility as well as publishers to end this wasteful practice. And it's big chains like Borders who are the primary culprits.

We remain hopeful that this isn't Borders' only response to dealing with the problem. If so, they've come up short.

Despite our pleas, Borders has already trashed hundreds of thousands of books

A heartfelt thanks to the nearly 10,000 book lovers who have signed onto this campaign since it launched Nov. 30. It's important to remember that whatever Borders decides to do at this point, despite our pleas for the company to find a better way, hundreds of thousands of books have already been trashed.

Borders has publicly stated many times over the past six weeks some variant of what was posted 1/15 on their website - "we will not be disposing of books as a result of the 182 Waldenbooks store closures." They've sent out similar replies via e-mail to 1000's of people who have contacted them, many of them supporters of this campaign.

Yet contrary to these denials, Borders has instructed employees to keep stripping covers from unsold books and sending them, along with the rest of the stripped books, back to their distribution centers in separate boxes. Not to be donated. To be disposed of away from the prying eyes of reporters or concerned customers who might find discarded books in store dumpsters:

http://donatenotdumpster.blogspot.com/2010/01/books-are-being-dumpstered-away-from.html

It's truly outrageous how Borders has misled the public regarding its actual response to this issue.

Last night, Borders spokesperson Mary Davis confirmed this when she posted the following to this page, admitting that as the store closings have proceeded over the past six weeks:

"we indeed instructed our store employees to strip the covers off mass market books that did not sell so they can be sent to publishers for credit."

So Borders has been trashing books as usual. The only question is, how many of the "mass market books that did not sell" has Borders "instructed store employees to strip the covers off" at each of the 182 stores Borders is closing? In other words, how many unsold books have been trashed?

Conservative estimates are in the hundreds of thousands - if as few as 600 books have been stripped at each of the closing stores (600 X 182 = 109,200). And thousands of books have been stripped at each store before being shipped back to distribution centers for disposal.

Those happen to be the same unsold books that concerned customers and book lovers everywhere have been pleading with Borders for six weeks to donate instead of trashing, ever since employees spoke out to alert the public that this was going on.

Big publishers and chains could save billions of dollars a year by cleaning up their act

It's estimated the U.S. publishing and bookselling industry would actually SAVE MONEY in the neighborhood of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year if its outdated system of trashing unsold books was to change:

http://www.bookindustrybailout.ca/

Just because something's standard operating procedure doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, and doesn't mean people can't speak out to change it. Big publishers and book chains need to clean up their acts and reform the system that results in books being trashed.

Imagine the positive PR benefits for Borders if it was to take a stand against the waste, re-branding itself as a more responsible bookseller.

Environmentally conscious consumers and book lovers everywhere (and there are a lot of us out there) would reward the company with our book-buying dollars.

Not just books - last week I had to dumpster $15,000 worth of items in one Borders store

Comment from "Quentin" on greenUPGRADER in response to 1-14-10 post "Stop Borders from Trashing Thousands of Unsold Books":

I work for Borders and there is a dumpster list that is published every month, sometimes more, that every store has to follow. You are required to locate all items on the list, scan them into the system and state the quantity of that item. You then are told to damage the item before throwing it in the dumpster.

A few months ago an email was sent out from the corporate office stating that no dumpster items were to be donated to charity. Stores must damage and throw out all merchandise.

This is not just the practice of closing stores, this is the practice of all Borders stores. Whether it be magazines, books, cd’s/dvd’s, gifts and stationary, nothing is allowed to be donated. We aren’t even allowed to keep dumpster items for use in the stores, like pens, tape, ext. Last week I had to dumpster close to $15,000 of gift and stationary items in one store. The majority of items I boxed up included pens, pencils, blank journals and art supplies, any of which I’m sure public schools are in need of.

Yet the corporate office can require us to ask every customer who is buying something if they would like to donate $8.00 to buy a bag of coffee to send to our troops. I don’t understand how they can expect our customers to donate their money when Borders as a company refuses to donate any of their merchandise to charity.

(January 18, 2010 at 7:51 am)

Retailers have a responsibility along with publishers to end dumpstering

As the ones carrying out the actual destruction of books in most cases, retailers have a responsibility as well as publishers to end this wasteful practice. And it's big chains like Borders who are the primary culprits – independent bookstores order smarter, and return far fewer books. From a reader comment on last month's HuffPo story on this campaign:

"Retail chains are just as responsible for this distribution system.

The returnable distribution policy was devised by publishers to HELP bookstores stay in business decades ago. And it did help. What no one foresaw were these massive chains coming along. At first it appeared to be a good thing to publishers--more stores meant more books.

But then the CHAINS put pressure on the publishers to give bigger and bigger discounts--all returnable. The chains do not have to take any risk in over-ordering---they can return their screw ups. If a publisher refuses to sell books nonreturnable, the chains simply won't take them without even bigger discounts (and smaller orders), which publishers literally cannot afford."

Books are being dumpstered away from the prying eyes of HuffPost readers

Anonymous Borders employee's post to iworkatborders LiveJournal blog on 2010-01-08 04:49 pm:

Yes, the practice of stripping & tossing MM's (mass-market books) is industry standard. It is also wasteful & inefficient, & with new inventory tracking capabilities, should be obsolete by now. So no, Borders isn't any more culpable than any other bookseller in this regard, & less so than the publishers.

Where Borders excels, however, is in making a bad situation worse. Now, in addition to stripping & returning the covers to the publisher for credit, we are shipping the guts of the book back to the DC (distribution center), at considerable expense, so that the books may be dumpstered away from the prying eyes of HuffPost readers. Extra payroll for packing already destroyed books, extra shipping charges, fuel use, etc. Sounds like a WIN to me!

I dumpstered 400 mass markets Monday night...

Donate, Not Dumpster wrote on January 8 at 7:40am:

Shocked by the H&M trashgate story? Contrast H&M's quick reaction and public promise to donate unsold merchandise to that of Borders, who are still dragging their feet, refusing to pledge to donate any of the books being destroyed RIGHT NOW while the stores close.

(Borders employee) Meghan Arnold (West Virginia): Actually, we box up the stripped books and recycle them now. This is a very recent development. (January 8 at 11:02am)

Donate, Not Dumpster: Meghan, scroll down and read all posts from the past few days. Borders has instructed employees to keep stripping covers and sending them, along with the rest of the stripped books, back to the publishers in separate boxes. To be trashed as usual. So the company is still ordering employees to destroy books, but hiding their disposal from public view (where the books might be found by TV news crews or pesky grad students like Cynthia Magnus in store dumpsters).

Furthermore, they're putting a real burden on the already overworked employees of the closing Waldenbooks stores, creating enormous pressure on them to dumpster some books anyway to save time and labor ("I dumpstered 400 mass markets Monday night. Has anyone been boxing up and returning them, and how much space/time/materials does it eat up?" – 1/7 post from Borders employee on the iworkatborders LiveJournal blog).

http://community.livejournal.com/iworkatborders/577181.html?thread=12718237#t12718237

So much for Borders using this opportunity to take a stand against its own industry's wasteful practices, and working something out so that the unsold books could be donated instead. (January 8 at 11:23am)

Borders' actual plan revealed - hiding disposal of books from public view

Donate, Not Dumspter wrote on January 5 at 8:35am:

Tim, thanks for your continued coverage of this story. Contrary to the latest e-mail you received from Borders spokesperson Mary Davis, if this 1/1 post from an employee on the iworkatborders LiveJournal blog is accurate (and it's echoed by other employees' comments in response to the post), Borders' actual plan for dealing with this issue is pretty astonishing:

http://community.livejournal.com/iworkatborders/573771.html

They've instructed employees to keep stripping covers and sending them, along with the rest of the stripped books, back to the publishers in separate boxes! Wow.

The company is still ordering their employees to destroy books, but hiding their disposal from public view (where the books might be found by TV news crews in store dumpsters), letting the publishers finish the dirty work. Furthermore, they're putting a real burden on the already overworked employees of the closing Waldenbooks stores, creating enormous pressure on them to dumpster some books anyway to save time and labor (again, read the employee comments on the above post).

Needless to say, this is not a development that inspires confidence in Borders. Until Borders stands up and publicly pledges to do the right thing, this campaign will continue.

Tim Baker: I will forward the link to Ms. Davis and see how she responds. Believe me - I never meant to imply that the situation was resolved. I simply wanted to extend Borders the courtesy of believing what they said. If it turns out to be untrue - it will only look that much worse for them. (January 5 at 8:37am)

Borders' reply to e-mail from librarian: We sincerely expect to have virtually no product left

Sarah Moxley Kincade wrote on January 4, 2010 at 9:47am:

borders' reply to my email (i work at a public library and thought i'd use that for possible influence)

12/11/2009

Dear Parnell Memorial Library,

Thank you for your inquiry regarding Waldenbooks store stock. We agree that donating books is a worthy concept. However, we do not expect to have any remaining product to donate once we complete clearance sales at the 200 Waldenbooks stores that we plan to close in January 2010. To explain, we have retained the services of an outside firm that specializes in store closings/clearance sales. This firm has structured a process for these sales that involves discounting, moving product that is not selling to higher volume stores and consolidating inventory. Through this process, we sincerely expect to have virtually no product left our goal is to sell everything. Therefore, we do not expect to have product to donate or to dispose of.

I hope this addresses your concerns. Thank you again for writing. I hope this is helpful. If you should have any other questions or comments, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Sincerely, Layla Customer Care 100 Phoenix Dr Ann Arbor, MI 48108

Borders: any product that remains...will not be discarded

Tim Baker wrote on January 1 at 12:11pm: I received a VERY ENCOURAGING e-mail from Borders yesterday. Check it out:

I received an e-mail from Ms. Mary Davis in the Corporate Affairs division of Borders Inc.

You may remember the last e-mail Ms. Davis sent to me in which she attempted to absolve Borders of any culpability in the whole "book dumpstering" fiasco.

In my opinion that e-mail was nothing less than corporate propaganda and many readers felt the same way.

This new e-mail though, like the New Year, seems to be full of promise and positive energy – see for yourself...

Hi again, Mr. Baker:

As a follow up to my (last) email, I want to provide you an update on where we stand with our product disposition practices. In my previous email, I stated that we are not disposing of any product as a result of closing approximately 180 Waldenbooks stores nationwide, and that we’ve retained a firm that specializes in closing/clearance sales and is highly successful at selling through virtually all inventory. I want to emphasize that any product that remains at stores that are closing will be transferred to other stores to be sold or will be donated to organizations in need, and will not be discarded.

Further, we have convened a cross-functional group of Borders Home Office employees who are looking at our product disposition practices in our remaining stores with the goal of finding a way to donate non returnable product to organizations in need and/or dispose of the product we do not donate in an environmentally friendly way. Concurrent with this, we are beginning the process of working with others within the industry to examine our collective product disposition practices.

I hope that you will consider our position for any future articles you write for Examiner.com and any posts you make on Facebook.

Thank you and Happy New Year.

Mary Davis