Why do Charity Shops Stick Labels to Books

ElefantEd

I'm not saying "buy new". I'm saying don't worry about a book with a minor blemish - it still performs its function (ie to be read) perfectly well. You can't expect a second hand item to be perfect, and your friends should perhaps consider a book to be 'spoilt' when they can't read it rather than because of a pencil mark on the inside cover.

Personally I only ever buy 2nd hand books - definitely the best way to reuse them and avoid unnecessary new things being made. Unless they are really grotty, to the extent they become unreadable, I'm happy, I don't particularly care if they are a bit tatty as I buy them to read rather than to sit looking pretty on the shelves.

Having said that, I do need people to buy new books at some point or I wouldn't have anyone supplying the second hand books, and I wouldn't want my favourite authors to starve (a live ones, anyway).

turnitround

I used to work in a distribution warehouse dealing with Tesco returns. 

One of the jobs was to take all the price labels off the books, usually the 2 for £7 type. We used a little black plastic scraper which had a flat edge which you gently pushed the label with from the outside edge. If you get the angle  right it never damages the books. Some were repriced and sent back out at a later date and no-one can tell they have been relabeled.

pokora

Some people try to change the label or move to the place to get the price they want to pay for the item. 
This is an easy and cheap way to avoid it.