Much like other online retailers of books, Better World Books sells both used and new books. They have also added ebooks. So what makes them different from sellers like Amazon or Barnes and Noble?
Better World Books is a B Corporation
"B Corps are certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency." (B Corporation)
So what does that mean? Well, from what I understand companies that are B Corporation certified work very hard to have a positive impact on the environment and their community. We'll learn more about the wonderful social and ecological impacts that Better World Books has in the next few sections.
Better World Books Triple Bottom Line
We hear about the bottom line all the time when talking about a business. For most companies the bottom line is simply becoming profitable. This refers to "net income" which is the total amount of income a business has after all expenses have been subtracted. So what is a triple bottom line?
Social
Better World Books has partnered with a number of literacy partners including: Room to Read, Books for Africa, Worldfund, National Center for Family Literacy, and 80 other literacy partners.
A portion of the money from any book purchases goes to fund some of these literacy partners. On top of that they added a program called "Book for Book". This means that for every book that you buy, they donate one book to a literacy partner. That's awesome! So, not only do you get the books you want, but you help literacy worldwide along the way. I love it.
Environmental
There are two big things that Better World Books does to have a positive impact on the environment. The first of course is they sell a lot of used books. Often times they sell books that a library would otherwise have disposed. So by recycling these books back into someone's home they reduce wasting resources. From their website, "So far, we've kept over 8,000 tons of books out of landfills."
The second thing is the carbon offset program. When you buy a book from Better World Books you can choose to pay a little extra to help with the carbon offset program. Better World Books accounts for all of the carbon emissions that they produce and work to be a carbon neutral company.
Business
Now here is where we get back to the "bottom line" we heard about before. They answer to their employees (of which own around 64% of the company), the literacy partners they support, their customers, people that have invested in the company, and the environment. They are working hard to have a positive impact on the world.
Prices
This is one thing I love about Better World Books. Often when you think of buying things from companies that are socially responsible, prices often end up being expensive. I often think of things like organic foods and so on. Well, not the case at Better World Books. They sell both new and used books. The new books are basically the list price of the books, but the used books are often very inexpensive. Shipping is added into the price of the books.
One my last orders for example (which sadly was a long time ago, I need to buy some more books!) I purchased 10 books. Yes, you read that right, I purchased 10 books. A mix of hardcover, trade paperback, and I think one or two was a mass market paperback. I paid just over $30 for those ten books. That's not bad.
Better World Books will often have sales going on where if you buy a certain amount of used books you get them all for cheaper. So even better!
Shipping
I think I am a little spoiled here. I live in Wisconsin, and many of the books that ship from Better World Books ships from Indiana. So even with standard ground shipping I receive my books very quickly. All of the times I have ordered books they have been sent out within 1-2 days of my order, so the processing times are pretty good.
A note here, they also sell books from third party vendors which have different processing and shipping times. However, even when you buy a book from a third party vendor you are still helping to fund literacy programs worldwide.
They also send you this quirky little email as a confirmation of your shipment where the books you ordered write a funny little note thanking you for choosing them. It's really pretty cool. (:
Are you a paid spokesperson for Better World Books
No, I am not a paid spokesperson. I just know when I see something that is amazing. Better World Books is amazing. The work that they do is amazing, and it feels good to help out literacy programs just by buying books I want to read anyway! So I want to get the word out about Better World Books because more people should know about them.
So check them out at Better World Books.
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