Well, I have a terrible truth to confess: even though I try to get books in the local library, or the retro store/s - I just ordered and received a HUGE order from Amazon!
(Of course, I only dared to do so, after Mrs Green and other green sites approved my choice.)
I also read extensively on Amazon itself, including Amazon.de which I ultimately ordered from (cause I could get an extra book for the same price due to their much better postage pricing for new-EU states & 'the rest of the world'!)
(I hate it that amazon.uk puts us into the same category as, uhm, Uzbekistan or Zimbabwe, although the distances are quite different!!)
And it is terrible discrimination we're not able to buy things used on the Marketplace!! (surely the whole EU and US market would collapse if the new members of EU could shop for used things too?)
Well, I was still expecting the delivery with lots of despair & trepidation!
Would it be horrible and full of shrink-wrap plastics? Would every book be individually sealed in a completely useless plastic bag? (like many books here in Slovenia are!)
I ordered on February 9th, the first batch was dispatched on the 12th - & gotten on February 14th! YAY! AMAZON LOVES ME!!
I slightly despaired cause the site told me the 2nd batch (which I actually needed/wanted more) would come from 3rd-21st march! (I forgot not all books were 'in stock' at .de, as they were at .uk - 2 were 'ready to ship in 12 to 14 days')
I was wondering if I had done the right thing... /Maybe the Universe was punishing me for buying so many new books? - yes, there was some guilt involved! I actually wanted to buy the books last August already, but then didn't dare to../ (or maybe buying from co.uk would be better?) - But this Saturday, on Feb 21st, all the books arrived, so I was very happy!!
Unfortunately have forgotten the excellent idea of Mrs Green to sell the books on once she's finished with them... Mine are somewhat dog-eared already, some of them! (which only means they are EXTREMELY useful, and they will be of much use! Couldn't get them here in Slovenia, so I had to get them from abroad!)
I did remember to use the paperclips for the not-so-useful bits and books (so they can ideally be resold or donated to a library easier)!
Description: They were in a plain cardboard box (like promised), with only some cellotape :(, books were totally NAKED :) YAY!!, there was a dispatch-paper with a plastic-window-thingie part (is that recyclable too?), and in the big box some unrequested heavily-printed glossy flyers/coupons - I thought 'How pretty!' - but as I'm unlikely to order monthly German DVD service or business cards, or go on a cruise, these are pretty useless to me! and rather excessive - one would think they track customer addresses and at least send you what you might use?)
Other Nitpicks: I know TRANSPORT (from so far away) is not environmentally friendly.. The books were not available as e-books, and also, you need energy for reading e-books, and can't lounge with them on a sofa so comfortably.. so, hm? I do wish Amazon included some data on emmissions-footprint etc, so I could calculate the footprint of each book (or the lot) from individual stores - I might even go with another store if it proved to be eco-friendlier!
I've already asked them to reveal data & make less emissions, maybe you can too?
I do wonder about any previous wrapping-of-pallets-into-plastic too... (I hope that plastic gets to be reused or recycled at least!)
Also, the books do not say if they are TCF - Totally Chlorine-Free, & thus dioxin-free, so I'm guessing they're not! (I wish all books were!)
Some seem to have some recycled content & some not, though none mention this specifically - it would be GREAT to know!
They are really great books though, and I'm sure I will be using most of them for quite a while! (Unfortunately for some of them, I seemed to have learnt most stuff online already!:) /am still wondering if it's environmentally friendly to return them, or resell, or not?/
am also a bit bedazzled by it all, not sure which one to start proper first!! :)
/I've skimmed the lot of them briefly, I feel my head is HUUGE!!;)/ But I LOVE books!! Especially NAKED books!!
This whole thing did make me wonder though: if Amazon can ship me NAKED books from Germany - and they look great! WHY do Slovenian firms insist on individual-packinging every one of them into plastic?! It beats me!!
Maybe need to demand NAKED books in Slovenia too?!
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