books: economies of scale

Professionals and citizens have different definitions of things.

As a for instance, let us observe the different interpretations of "a LOT of books".

A couple of guys just asked about selling some leftovers from an estate sale, and I said "sure!"

"But..." one appended with an ominous inflection, "....there are a LOT of books."

"Great, bring 'em on in and I'll see what I can find."

His friend raced to his defense.

"No, we're talking a LOT of books.  Like, a LOT."

I decided to play the game, otherwise who knows how long the back and forth would have continued.

"About how many?  A bookcase full, a house full, what?"

"It's like easily 600 to 1000 books.  A LOT."

So estimating 25 books per banker's box, that's 25 to 40 boxes, 5 or 8 or so dolly trips to the counter.  Roughly enough books to fill up the back of a pickup truck.

Which is a healthy buy, but not what I'd call a LOT of books.

A storage unit packed front to back is a LOT.  A big Ryder truck like the kind you'd use to move furniture stuffed to the roof is a LOT.  Basically, anything that would take me more than an hour to sort through is a LOT.

This is just a bunch.

And yes, that is a technical bookselling term.  =P


/edit
Okay, they showed up with ten good sized boxes, figure 300 books.
Took me about 15 minutes to go sort through- it was an easy buy, most of it was junk which makes for smooth sailing.