What do we do all day?

I thought it might interest people to get an idea of what our volunteers actually do all day (and how very hard they work!)

The details in this post are extracted from the productivity targets for our bookshop at 188 Mill Road in Cambridge.

 

 

  

Daily

• 100 fresh items put out, either by filling up spaces and gaps made by sales or by replacing some of the items which have been on the shop floor the longest.
• Mark down the items taken off which were priced under £5 to 30p (paperbacks) or 50p (hardback) and put in one of the sale boxes. Put items which were priced over £5 items in the basement store to try again later or put online.

Weekly

• “Fresh this week” shelf books rotated off and shelved in correct sections, replacing the oldest of the books already in a section (either mark these down for 30p or 50p box or store in basement). This adds roughly 100 more fresh books to the shop floor.
• Window display books changed and and shelved in their sections, replacing older books which should be rotated off.
• 7 boxes of paperbacks rotated off the shelves, replaced with fresh and marked down for 30p sale.
• 3 boxes of hardbacks rotated off the shelves, replaced with fresh and marked down for 50p sale.
• 10 World of Books crates filled with books previously offered in 30p or 50p boxes and damaged books unsuitable to be offered for sale.

(World of Books are the book wholesalers who purchase unsold and damaged books from us to be either sold on or recycled if they are too damaged to read).

Monthly targets

• No more than 5% lost trading days due to lack of volunteer cover (out of potential 7 days per week).
• 25% gift aid sales.
• Monthly takings (including revenue from sale to World of Books) £1,900

The aim is to crank these targets up gradually so that income rises and we can help more animals.

If you are in Cambridge, please visit the shop and support our hard working volunteers. We also need your book donations;  please bear us in mind if you are having a sort out or disposing of books your children have grown out of.