ABSTRACT
An ID returns unsold paperbacks by ripping off the covers and sending them back to the publisher for credit. (Sometimes, at the publisher's request, the ID will return whole books which the publisher believes are salable elsewhere, with the publisher paying the transportation charges.) Some IDs rip off the covers manually. Others, who can afford it, use an automatic stripping machine, which typically is available to an ID on a lease basis. It takes the covers off at one end and puts the denuded books into a shredder. Out the other end comes confetti. For one who loves books, it is a painful sight.
