Found a weird trick to trade paperbacks faster at my local coffee shop swap shelf

So I kept missing good books at the shop down on 5th Street because people would snatch them up before I got there. Tried showing up at 7am for a week... no luck. Then I just started leaving a small sticky note inside the cover saying "I'll swap this for a mystery pick" and a date. Next day I came back, someone had left a copy of a Terry Pratchett novel I'd never heard of. Did this 4 times now and got 4 total surprises. Has anyone else tried a weird system like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_garcia17d ago

My buddy tried this and got a cookbook with handwritten notes in it.

faith_thomas17d ago

Oh wait, that's actually not quite right. I've seen a few of those handwritten cookbooks going around and they're usually not from the same batch. The one my sister got had notes in it too but they were from some old lady who passed away, not from the original seller. It's kind of a weird thing where people buy estate sales or thrift store finds and then resell them as "vintage" or "handcrafted" items. So your buddy probably ended up with someone's grandma's recipe collection, not something made specifically for him. The cookbook itself might be cool and all, but just know it's not some custom made thing with personal touches from the seller.