There were, what I call, ‘Thrift-Store Cockroaches’ at the Arvada ARC. The online-sellers who go through every single book, with a scanner, and when it is something they can use, they toss it in a nearby shopping cart that is usually full, and blocking the view of shelves to everyone else. ARC book sections aren’t big on space, especially the one in Arvada. Plus, there were two of them working. I had to stop looking at CDs so I could get to the history sections before they did, and I’m glad because I found some really good books they would have taken.
These Cockroaches aren’t doing anything wrong, and they aren’t really being rude; but they are going after what us normal shoppers are, and they are taking far more than even a big-spending shopper would. They aren’t just one person going for the same kind of thing; they are taking it all.
That’s just how it works. Goodwills are horrible in their media sections, because either they are picked through by these Cockroaches, or Goodwill is doing the same thing to whatever comes in because if you look at sellers on Facebook or Amazon, a lot of them are ‘Goodwill-TownName’.
Which brings me to the often-visited topic of whether it’s best to just stay home, cherry-pick from the endless selection online, and safe the time, gas, wear-and-tear on the vehicle, the annoyance of everything that makes a big thrift store unpleasant (rude people, crowded, smelly, nothing there, tags that are difficult if not impossible to get off of a book or cd, a tag covering exactly what one needs to see on a book or cd, not the right tag for half-price… etc)
I’d vote it’s best to stay home. But the flip side is that Dad and I go out to lunch, and enjoy the thrill-of-the-hunt. In any case, I was thrilled by this week’s hunt:
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: I was given the DVD of this, and it had very good picture quality, especially for a DVD. However, I can’t pass up a Blu-ray copy for five bucks (That’s a lot in ARC Saturday thrift-store pricing, but hey) I saw it at Wal-Mart today for almost fifteen bucks. All five of these movies are fun. They are ripe for brainier, smarter scripts though.
Mathews Men: Currently, I’m reading a lot about the Atlantic War, so this was more than the average find.
Eyewitness to World War II: I have a number of eyewitness books, and also one similar to this by National Geographic on the Civil War. I couldn’t remember if I had this one, my spreadsheet said ‘no’ but I just couldn’t trust it. Yet, I kind of remember this being one of those books I passed on because of price, thinking I’d remember it for later. Turns out my spreadsheet wasn’t lying, I didn’t have this book. I paid full-price because it was worth it and I don’t see it much. That means, though, that I’ll see it a lot more now, for a lot less!
Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar: In my collection there is another book by this author similar to this, so that threw me off initially. This was in great shape. It’s bargain-priced, which I find surprising.
Charlie Company: What Vietnam Did To Us: This was there last week and survived that time with a low price… why doesn’t anybody buy these? I passed on it out of showing restraint, but…
The Day the American Revoution Began: The Civil War and Revolutionary War are topics I avoid buying for because I can’t store my other topics (World War I & II) as it is. But what I’ve been reading about this makes it something I couldn’t walk away from today. And it was two bucks.
Thomas Jefferson: A Life: Same thing as above. And I think we all need to be learning about the Founding Fathers.
Europe’s Last Summer: Who Started The Great War In 1914?: Just like that book on the Marne last week, this was a terrific find, as newer books on the Great War aren’t the most common at thrifts, and especially on this topic. I read about the war all the time and still can’t pin down exactly who is responsible, it was such a mess. I would have paid far above full price for this, but it was two bucks!
The Rise and Fall of the British Empire: I don’t know enough about this topic, such as what exactly were the benefits of their empire on subject peoples, as well as exactly what were the negatives? There’s a lot of detail here, and the British Empire is a deep subject. I think there is a lot here that shines a light on what we assume about colonialism, and I’m not justifying it, I’m just saying that we should be as accurate as possible about all aspects of it, especially from the point-of-view at the time. Interesting thing: Haiti provided around half of France’s economy at one point. I could be wrong on that, but I heard this on a YouTube video. Point being, there was some extreme profit (If I remembered that correctly) for the home country, which funded a lot of things good and bad. This should be a great read.
Chained Eagle: Not my first former-prisoner-of-war book by any means, but seriously. Not many real accounts of anything are more fascinating (and sad) than this kind of first-hand-account.
Randy Rydberg 