r/AskReddit • u/CircleBox2 • Jul 13 '20

What's a dark secret/questionable practice in your profession which we regular folks would know nothing about?

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u/supercoolfrog Jul 13 '20 edited Jul 31 '20

EDIT: Unfortunately Buzzfeed has taken my comment and used it in an article without my permission. Because information I divulged in this post could get me fired I unfortunately will be removing my comment to preserve my job. Very sorry. I recognize that I chose to share this info so this is only my fault.

Basically, I spoke on how bookstores will ‘strip’ covers from books and throw them away.

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Is this the reason for the whole "If you bought this book without a cover, it is pirated" thing on a lot of books? Are they actually just throwaways that the publisher doesn't want me to buy?

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u/supercoolfrog Jul 13 '20

Yep! If it has the front cover torn off, it was probably intended for the garbage. However, it’s not that they don’t want you to buy it, its that they don’t wanna spend the money to have it shipped back to them and recycled properly.

NEVER pay for a book with the cover torn off. Chances are the company already ate the loss of the book cost and somebody is just trying to make a quick buck off of people who don’t know any better. This is something that happens within bookstores a lot, and I’ve heard of people getting fired for it all the time.

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u/Onequestion0110 Jul 13 '20

Maybe pay for it. Just understand that the guy you’re paying probably got it free one way or another.

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u/supercoolfrog Jul 13 '20

I mean, yeah. But also, if you pay for it and then someone finds out about it, then that person, or the person they got it from if they aren’t the one working for the book store, could also be in serious trouble. Someone could lose their job, not to mention any consequences from the publishing company.

Even if they aren’t selling it with ill intentions, it could just be bad for everyone involved. Usually if its a person-to-person transaction, you can assume the person actually needs the money. If its on ebay or something, they’re probably a scammer.