the book killer

i have been doing a lot of overtime lately, specifically i have been doing "returns." when i have tried to explain to my friends what this means, they have all looked utterly horrified, so i thought i would explain the bad new publically.
the thing is, alot, maybe even the majority of books published every year in the uk end up being destroyed. yes, that is right, they get pulped.
the reason is that too many works are published every year and the publishers print runs which are too large for the demand, on the hopes that whatever book they just printed will actually sell. a book shop (at least the big chains) only pay for the books they sell, the rest are just sitting on the shelf, either waiting to be sold, or taking up space that could be occupied by a book with better chances of selling. and since all those books in the shop are technically not paid for by the shop, they can be sent back to the publisher, and this is often what happens. some publishers only ask for part of the book back (the cover with barcode normally) then the actual inside we toss in the bin. seriously.
so for example, when a book is on offer (like 3 for 2) we order lots of copies since whatever is on that offer has a good chance of selling (since the british public tends to buy whatever is put in front of them, on offer). when the book stops being on offer (which at some point is inevitable) it generally stops selling, leaving us with some 25 copies when we only need 2. the the 23 extras get pulped.
so my job is partly to walk around the shop and find those books that arent selling and send them off to their fate. this is actually a terrible task that no book lover should want to do, but i have to admit i sort of enjoy it. it is a bit like a puzzle or a treasure hunt. many of the ones marked for return have been on the shelves for years with out moving and are often misplaced, so finding them can be quite a complex procedure. it is amazing though, when i am hunting for returns, the time flies by.