Yesterday I walked to the newstand on Central Avenue to buy a newspaper, as I do every day. It's the type of place that sells papers, stationery, greeting cards, gifts and lots of paperback books. The books are lined up on long metal racks with their covers facing out, not shelved with only the spines visible as they would be in a regular bookstore. Some of the books are new, but many of them are old and dusty, with cracked covers. Based on their copyright dates, some of them date back to the 60s and 70s.

As I was paying for my newspaper, I asked the woman behind the cash register--the wife of the store's owner--how much their used books cost. It was something I had been wondering about for a long time, but hadn't asked because they usually don't have any books that I'm interested in.

She looked at me for a second, then said, "We don't sell used books. Some of our books look old because the customers open them and read them, but we don't sell any books at a discount." "Oh, OK," I said. "Just curious." I was a little embarassed for having asked--I felt "cheap"--but now I think it was a perfectly reasonable question. They expect people to pay the cover price for these ancient, beat-up paperbacks? They're the type of books that people charge a quarter for at garage sales.

After I left, a guy came up to me on the sidewalk. He had been standing in line behind me at the cash register. "Those books are old," he said. "Why don't they give a discount?"

"Beats me," I said. "Some of those books have been sitting there for 30 years." He just shook his head and walked away.