It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day! If you are ever in Memphis, Tennessee and want to learn about this amazing man, and others involved in the Civil Rights movement, check out the National Civil Rights Museum. You know, when Covid hasn’t closed it. They are having virtual programs today, Jan 18, if you want to learn more.

On with the completely unrelated blog post!

I heard about Book Outlet on TicTok. So I read a few reviews online and decided to give them a try.

First thing you need to know is that they don’t carry the newest releases. What they do carry is recent releases that are maybe one or two years old. But maybe not the most popular things. But sometimes the popular things. You just have no way of knowing unless you check back regularly.

I know, super helpful.

Second thing to know is that the shipping is, well, problematic. They tell you with the free shipping that it can take anywhere from 3 to 20 business days. They mean that. I ordered mine on Friday, November 20th and didn’t get it until Saturday, December 12th. That’s 23 total days, 14 business days.

The website interface is…interesting. Searching for books by title is easy enough. And you can break down the book options by genre. It’s when you go to search by authors that it gets really tricky. You have to search last name first, with a comma between the last and first names, and both must have the first letters capitalized or the search results will come back with nothing. It took me a few tries to figure this out.

Twas annoying.

Now onto the books themselves! I ordered 6 books and I am pleased to report that I received all 6 books. And in good condition! Though one did arrive with a store sticker on it. I had seen that was a possibility before hand, I was just hoping I would be spared that fate.

Oh well.

The packing slip came with clear instructions on how to make a return, file a claim for missing or mismatched merchandise, or just how to ask general questions. I had no need to do any of those things, so I can’t speak to whether or not that’s easy.

I’d say my only drawback was the shipping time, so if you need a book fast, don’t buy it here.

I have since purchased from Book Outlet again.