I am in Maine this week on a writing retreat at my family’s cabin on Green Lake.  Though the leaves are not out yet, it is a beautiful and very quiet place as the summer tourist season won’t kick off for a while yet.  Today I stopped by Borders Bookstore at the Bangor Mall on my way to Orono, my hometown, for a Pat’s Pizza.  Best pizza on the planet with plenty of “local color.” 

Anyway, seems like everyone is doing a checkout promotion for charity this month!  The woman at the register in Borders asked me if I would like to purchase one of about 10 pre-selected children’s books that were on display behind the counter as a donation to the local Ronald McDonald House.  She explained the cheapest book was $3.99, several were $6.99, and a couple hardcovers were a bit more.  I bought one for them to add to their stack to deliver to the Ronald McDonald House.

I told her about this blog and that I wanted to be able to write a post about their promotion asking if they had any literature I could have.  She called her supervisor and - no, they did not have anything I could take with me.  They did have color posters tacked next to the cash registers about donating books to children but they did not mention what nonprofit organization was the beneficiary.  I had to ask again who was getting the books and she told me, the local RMH.  Also, the cash register receipt only listed the book, not that it was a donation.

So…my tips for them.  Have a flyer or something a customer can take home, should they want more information.  Also, have the purchased book labelled as a donation on the receipt.  I understand that a book is not the same thing as having donated cash directly, but there must be some way to have the register print that out on the receipt.