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!
Friday, January 8, 2010
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.
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)
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)
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
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, 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)
Monday, January 4, 2010
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' 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
Friday, January 1, 2010
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...
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
Saturday, December 26, 2009
How Borders' PR has evolved since this campaign began Nov. 30
Donate, Not Dumpster wrote on December 26, 2009 at 7:17am:
It's been interesting to watch Borders' PR evolve since this campaign began on Nov. 30. In her response to the below (12/24) post, Borders spokesperson Mary Davis makes it clear why Borders needs to stop trying to stonewall this issue until the store closings are over, and put out a press release pledging to work with publishers to find a way to donate the unsold books instead of destroying them.
"We will not be disposing of product as a result of the Waldenbooks store closures" is a noble sentiment, but it's hard to believe there's no possibility some books will remain unsold. It also glosses over the fact that many of the books they will be "returning" to publishers for credit will actually be stripped of covers and dumpstered. Why can't Borders use this opportunity to take a stand against its own industry's wasteful practices, and work something out so that they can be donated instead? The company needs to figure out a plan, issue a press release, and then we'll stand up and cheer Borders for doing the right thing.
It's also a contradiction of Davis' own words in response to a story about this campaign (published Dec. 16): "Please know until that team vets this issue and we decide appropriate next steps, we will hold off disposing whatever small amount of product that would normally be discarded."
http://image.examiner.com/x-32254-Orlando-Writing-Examiner~y2009m12d16-Borders-Responds-to-the-Dumpstering-Issue
It's a little like a hall of mirrors. The first responses from the company clearly stated "we do not expect to have product to donate or to dispose of" once clearance sales at the closing stores are over. Now that nearly 3,000 concerned book lovers are watching, they've admitted some books were going to be trashed all along!
In fact, the more detail Borders gives in their responses to folks who care about this issue, the more questions are raised as to whether they're committed to doing anything about it before the (now 180) Waldenbooks stores close.
After HuffPo ran a story on this campaign two weeks ago, Waldenbooks VP Pat Wynn said in response that Borders "will reconvene an existing team that we have on this issue to address it fully." Yet below, Davis describes the team this way:
"we've put together a group of individuals here at our corporate headquarters to take a look at our product disposal practices overall and see what can be done to benefit communities, while still meeting our business needs. It will take some time to examine this issue..."
This is corporate speak for, "we might do something, we might not. It depends on how big of a PR problem these pesky people who are trying to save the books become."
If Borders is serious about examining this issue to the benefit of communities, they can donate "whatever small amount of product that would normally be discarded" to local nonprofits. The company’s customers, employees, and book lovers everywhere will thank them for it.
It's been interesting to watch Borders' PR evolve since this campaign began on Nov. 30. In her response to the below (12/24) post, Borders spokesperson Mary Davis makes it clear why Borders needs to stop trying to stonewall this issue until the store closings are over, and put out a press release pledging to work with publishers to find a way to donate the unsold books instead of destroying them.
"We will not be disposing of product as a result of the Waldenbooks store closures" is a noble sentiment, but it's hard to believe there's no possibility some books will remain unsold. It also glosses over the fact that many of the books they will be "returning" to publishers for credit will actually be stripped of covers and dumpstered. Why can't Borders use this opportunity to take a stand against its own industry's wasteful practices, and work something out so that they can be donated instead? The company needs to figure out a plan, issue a press release, and then we'll stand up and cheer Borders for doing the right thing.
It's also a contradiction of Davis' own words in response to a story about this campaign (published Dec. 16): "Please know until that team vets this issue and we decide appropriate next steps, we will hold off disposing whatever small amount of product that would normally be discarded."
http://image.examiner.com/x-32254-Orlando-Writing-Examiner~y2009m12d16-Borders-Responds-to-the-Dumpstering-Issue
It's a little like a hall of mirrors. The first responses from the company clearly stated "we do not expect to have product to donate or to dispose of" once clearance sales at the closing stores are over. Now that nearly 3,000 concerned book lovers are watching, they've admitted some books were going to be trashed all along!
In fact, the more detail Borders gives in their responses to folks who care about this issue, the more questions are raised as to whether they're committed to doing anything about it before the (now 180) Waldenbooks stores close.
After HuffPo ran a story on this campaign two weeks ago, Waldenbooks VP Pat Wynn said in response that Borders "will reconvene an existing team that we have on this issue to address it fully." Yet below, Davis describes the team this way:
"we've put together a group of individuals here at our corporate headquarters to take a look at our product disposal practices overall and see what can be done to benefit communities, while still meeting our business needs. It will take some time to examine this issue..."
This is corporate speak for, "we might do something, we might not. It depends on how big of a PR problem these pesky people who are trying to save the books become."
If Borders is serious about examining this issue to the benefit of communities, they can donate "whatever small amount of product that would normally be discarded" to local nonprofits. The company’s customers, employees, and book lovers everywhere will thank them for it.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Borders spokesperson Mary Davis: we will not be disposing of product
Mary McCarthy Davis: Hi everyone, This is Mary Davis with Borders. I think I have written to some of you who have contacted the company over the last few weeks.
Just want to provide a clarification to what Justin says above. We are keeping open about 20 stores within our Waldenbooks Specialty Retail chain that were slated to close by the end of January. I think Justin's post may lead many to think that all of the stores that were slated to close are staying open, but again, that is not the case, we will keep open roughly 20.
As I have said to those who have emailed -- and we've posted here on this page -- that we will not be disposing of product as a result of the Waldenbooks store closures. We have hired an outside firm that specializes in clearance sales and we have put procedures in place that will allow us to sell through all product. In the meantime, however, we've put together a group of individuals here at our corporate headquarters to take a look at our product disposal practices overall and see what can be done to benefit communities, while still meeting our business needs. It will take some time to examine this issue, but suffice it to say that your emails and posts here on this page are not at all being ignored. I hope you have a nice holiday. (December 24, 2009 at 11:39am)
Just want to provide a clarification to what Justin says above. We are keeping open about 20 stores within our Waldenbooks Specialty Retail chain that were slated to close by the end of January. I think Justin's post may lead many to think that all of the stores that were slated to close are staying open, but again, that is not the case, we will keep open roughly 20.
As I have said to those who have emailed -- and we've posted here on this page -- that we will not be disposing of product as a result of the Waldenbooks store closures. We have hired an outside firm that specializes in clearance sales and we have put procedures in place that will allow us to sell through all product. In the meantime, however, we've put together a group of individuals here at our corporate headquarters to take a look at our product disposal practices overall and see what can be done to benefit communities, while still meeting our business needs. It will take some time to examine this issue, but suffice it to say that your emails and posts here on this page are not at all being ignored. I hope you have a nice holiday. (December 24, 2009 at 11:39am)
No need to worry about tossing out books!
Justin B. Kelly: Just a little update in case people are unaware! Waldenbooks just found out they are staying open for business!!! :) so alas, no need to worry about tossing out books! (December 24, 2009 at 10:27am)
Monday, December 21, 2009
Borders throws away magazines, mass market books and Paperchase items that remain unsold
Jim Forst: Borders throws away magazines, mass market books and Paperchase items that remain unsold. They accuse employees of trying to make a buck if they bring up the word "donation". This same company wants your sympathy saying "they can't cut costs anymore". This is proof that they have potential financial solutions but remain antiquated in their thinking about how to run a corporation in this modern day and age. Keep throwing away all this product and run yourselves into the ground. (December 21, 2009 at 6:30am)
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Borders has got to be destroying the rainforest by now
Emma Mangiapane: Borders has got to be destroying the rainforest by now with the thousands of boxes of stripped books and magazines that I had to watch being NOT EVEN RECYCLED but just thrown in the dumpster with all the other garbage, in the 4 years that I spent working for the company from which I recently departed from in disgust. They could make so much more of a difference in the world by donating those books that are stripped, instead of their regular scam to pad sales by holding book drives that require customers to purchase new books in the store. (December 19, 2009 at 11:34am)
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