Airport convenience stores are sticky traps, indeed. All too often, we walk in for a simple bottle of water and find ourselves walking out with an armful of hardcover books that we regret purchasing as soon as the plane leaves the tarmac.
But never fear: It turns out many airport bookstores will let you return those books for some money back, even after you’ve read them.
You see, hundreds of U.S. airport booksellers are operated by the same company, Paradies Lagardère. And that company runs a handy Read & Return program that lets you return books within six months of purchase, no matter their condition. Simply bring books back to any of the company’s stores with a receipt, and you’ll get a 50 percent refund.
Paradies Lagardère operates those CNBC and Today-themed airport bookstores (sadly, Hudson News is a different company). The Read & Return program started back in 2003 and operates in each of the company’s 350 U.S. locations that sell books as well as its stores in Canada and the Caribbean, a spokeswoman told HuffPost. Books returned in good condition are resold, and those that aren’t get donated.
This program beats your average bookstore return policy, which usually has a two-week or 30-day time limit and requires the book be in good condition. And as far as we can tell, no other bookstore chain ― in the airport or otherwise ― runs a program quite like this.
Read on!
