FUCK THAT.

"Just like H&M and Walmart, who destroy perfectly good unsold clothing rather than donating it to charity, Borders is apparently planning to destroy tens of thousands of books when they close more than 200 Waldenbooks stores later this month."

via Perez Hilton (good on him)

Email these guys and tell 'em what you think of this:
rmarshall@bordersgroupinc.com (Ron Marshall, CEO)

mbierley@bordersgroupinc.com (Mark Bierley, CFO)

mdavis4@bordersgroupinc.com (Mary Davis, Borders Spokesperson)

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Addendum:
After thinking about this yesterday, I realize the sale of clearance books vs. the donation of clearance books (what are they selling at Waldenbooks these days anyways?) is not a travesty but is still very frustrating. A better word. I also realize that Waldenbooks is a discount bookseller and that it's great the books there are available to own for less than Borders, Barnes and Nobles, and snobby indie bookstores are selling 'em, but I don't know...I just wish I was a PR maven and could be like, look, I know you don't want to spend practically anything on marketing/advertising in order to keep your consumer base happy, and that's great, BUT I THINK YOU COULD TURN THIS INTO A BLITZKRIEG OF GOOD PR. Have a group of your sickly pale office workers go out into the community and bring a couple of schools/retirement homes some boxes of books. Take pictures. Tell a local newspaper. YOU'LL BE HUGE.

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AddendumAddendum:
I realize that Borders and Waldenbooks are both already huge. But they could be universally, morally, ground-breakingly huge. In a way that would sew the seeds for future imminent huge-ness, even when small bookstores and the internet and the iTamp/Kindle are really taking over. This corporate strategy is already kind of in place (Target esp. makes a big deal of doing good works/donating to community causes and the United Way) and I just think it's too good to disregard.