Comments on: Eco-mooching

By: Erein

Erein — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:28:14 +0000

There’s a lot of principles you show in your post which are already done at Bookcrossing meet-ups. Maybe you could thinking about a partnering, after all, most of us are bookcrossers too, and BC is another non lucrative initiative.

Besides, partnering offers each other the chance to grow, and thinking green, saving energies

By: librarysupplychainguy

librarysupplychainguy — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:59:19 +0000

BM could partner up with carbonfund.org and offer an optional carbon-offsetting fee to requesters. Of course, this would mean setting up a whole interface for users to enter PayPal or CC information, but it seems likely that one of the next logical steps of BM is to add pay features to the site, anyway. If you let users (like me) voluntarily offset shipping pollution by buying credits from a site like carbonfund, it seems like you are helping us make the world a cleaner place. Plus, it would add credibility and environmentally friendly plugs for your site… What do you think?

By: _Anne

_Anne — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:35:43 +0000

while we are debating on how to ship books the environmentally friendly way, here’s a another way of being eco-friendly:
unlike in the US or other first world countries, the post offices here in the Philippines do not have sturdy mailing envelopes–well they don’t have mailing envelopes period. So, I am constantly trying to find ways on how to wrap books for mailing. So instead of buying new and sturdy envelopes and/or boxes from the bookstore, I use old envelopes, plastics from the stores, those envelope bags some boutiques use…basically, anything that, in my opinion, can be used -instead of grabbing new boxes or envelopes. All the books I have sent out so far have been delivered to their destinations safely, so I guess it works. My two cents worth.

By: Carole

Carole — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 01:53:50 +0000

I am an independent bookseller and I have had a swap loft for a few years where people bring in two books and take one in exchange. I also have people who bring books and plan to come back later to look so I keep a tally of how many books I owe people. This is working really well. It turns my inventory and in the swap we include advance reader’s copies that we get but don’t sell outright. This is a great way for people to read books that are not even published yet and will only be in hardback.

By: Megan

Megan — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:39:46 +0000

I think it might help if, when a list of book owners comes up, the owner(s) nearest the moocher are indicated with a star or a search by proximity option was added. I know you can search by zip code, but I was very disappointed when a fellow moocher who I found in my zip code mailed a book rather than dropping it off. She or he lived about two streets away from my house- the post office was much farther.

By: Yaya

Yaya — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:26:25 +0000

Please do consider us too, from Indonesia. I really hope that BM will provide postage cost to and from Indonesia too

By: bibliophile7

bibliophile7 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:47:34 +0000

here’s my 2 cents: i don’t think john is suggesting we increase our eco footprint. as someone mentioned in an early response, a mooch shelf exists at her job. this is where the idea fits without adding any inconveniences on us or the environment. if you already go to work, why not get a mooch shelf started there? if you already participate in pta meetings that are held consistently in the same place, set up a mooch shelf there. if you regularly work from some indie coffeeshop, go ahead and get a mooch shelf setup there as well. this doesn’t have to be about going to unnecessary lengths to make this happen. of course anywhere in walking or bike riding distance is suitable as well. i’m trying to get more homeschoolers to join. they have a strong need for tons of books that they typically use for a year or less. and they are often single income families, so there’s economical benefits for them. and perhaps they can find some common meeting grounds to have mooch shelves. now the friends only idea, i’m not diggin’ that one. and if you can get special postage rates or something for bookmoochers, that’d be so very awesome…

By: justelise

justelise — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:33:50 +0000

The idea of any friend only Mooching or creating subsets of the main inventory designated for specific groups of people detracts from the community atmosphere on BookMooch.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:02:47 +0000

I think being eco-friendly is great, and I always support anything being as green as possible. However, cosmetic changes for the appearance of being green don’t do anyone any favors.

Much research will have to go into your considered improvements. Exchanging postage fees for face-to-face meetups just adds fuel to the carbon footprint issue. And I see BookMooch more as a way to keep books from getting dumped into a landfill than as a means to lower production at the front end. Which is why I support it.

As a small press publisher, I utilize ‘print on demand’, which is a very green option versus a bulk order of books that sit in a warehouse, taking up space and resources, until (if they don’t sell) they are pulped and dumped. Support of legitimate publishers that use this method would go a long way. I don’t want to print more books than need to be printed; but I certainly don’t want to *sell* less, either. For small presses, profit is already challenging enough.

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:21:45 +0000

I think the idea of in-person mooching is a bad one. As a young woman, I would NOT be comfortable meeting up with who-knows-who, even in a public place.