Donate books in Pasco County
Pasco is where we are. The warehouse, the drop-off door and the monthly $1 sale are all on State Road 54 in New Port Richey, which makes this the one county where you can hand books over in person on any weekday, or have them collected without anybody driving far.
Where to donate books in Pasco County
Drop-off is at 5266 State Road 54, New Port Richey, Monday to Friday between 10am and 5pm. There is no minimum and no appointment: one bag is as welcome as twenty boxes, and somebody comes out to the car so you are not carrying anything through a door. Parking is free and on site. The building spans 5260, 5264 and 5266, so any of the three numbers will bring you to the right place.
If the pile is bigger than the car, the collection is free from thirty items up. Books, DVDs, CDs, audiobooks, cassettes and games all count toward that thirty. Box them, leave them somewhere sheltered, tell us where on the form, and you do not need to be home.
Two route days, because Pasco is two different drives
Every other county we cover runs on one day. Pasco runs on two, and the reason is geography rather than favouritism. The western side is dense and coastal, with towns a few minutes apart. The eastern side is farms, small cities and long straight roads. Trying to serve both on one day would mean a van crossing the county twice and nobody getting a sensible window.
West Pasco is collected on Mondays.
East Pasco is collected on Fridays.
Large collections are different again. An estate, a whole library or a garage that has become a storeroom gets a dedicated Wednesday trip with the right vehicle and enough hands, and we call you to arrange a time rather than giving you a window. See estate and large collections.
What a Pasco collection day looks like
On your route day a van works its way along a planned list of stops rather than driving out for each collection in turn. In practice that means a window rather than an appointment: we collect any time between 8am and 8pm, and you do not need to be there. Most people leave the boxes on a covered porch, in a carport, inside an unlocked garage or behind a side gate, and put a line on the form saying which.
West Pasco throws up two recurring wrinkles and both are easy to solve on the form. The first is access through a gate or a guard: put the code or the instructions in the “anything else” box and the driver will have it in hand. The second is a block where the parking is round the back, in which case telling us the building number saves a lap of the car park.
Requests that reach us a day or two ahead of your route day usually make that week rather than the next one. There is no penalty for asking late; it simply moves you along.
Donating from rural east Pasco
Shady Hills, Trilby, Lacoochee, Crystal Springs and the land around San Antonio and Saint Leo are a different proposition from the coast: long driveways, big lots, and neighbours far enough away that nobody is going to keep an eye on a stack of boxes. That is precisely why these go on a fixed day with the rest of that end of the county instead of being handled as one-offs, and it is why the thirty item minimum matters more out here than it does in Holiday or Elfers.
Two things make a rural stop quick. Tell us roughly where on the property the boxes will be, because on a five acre lot that is the difference between a five minute stop and a twenty minute one. And if the drive is soft sand or unpaved, say so, since it changes which vehicle we send.
Clearing a parent’s house in Pasco
A large share of what we collect in this county comes from families dealing with a house that has to be emptied, often on a deadline set by a realtor or a closing date. Those jobs do not ride the ordinary routes. They get a dedicated Wednesday trip with the right vehicle and enough people, booked for a time rather than a window, and we are used to working around estate sales and open houses. Put the date on the form and we will work back from it.
You provide the boxes and we do the lifting, including the shelves nobody wants, so you are not left with a partial pile and a second problem. See estate and large collections or the book removal service.
What we take from Pasco homes
Books of every kind, including textbooks of any age and ex-library copies with stamps, spine labels and jacket covers still on them. Alongside books we take DVDs, music CDs, audiobooks on CD, cassette tapes, video games, board games and puzzles. We cannot take VHS tapes, mass-market paperbacks, encyclopedia sets, Reader’s Digest Condensed volumes, magazines, or anything with mould, water or insect damage. Full accepted list and what we cannot take.
Where Pasco donations end up
We are booksellers, and that is the part that makes this work: every box is opened and gone through by hand by people who know what a book is worth, and the titles with a real market are listed and sold. That is what pays for the vans and the fuel, which is what keeps the collection free.
Most of what comes in is not rare, and that is the point. A great deal of it goes onto the tables at the MaxX Book Bonanza, our $1 sale on the 4th Saturday of every month in the lot outside the New Port Richey door. That sale raises money for the Friends of South Holiday Library, the nearest library group to most of west Pasco, and for the Friends of the Clearwater Library System. Books also go to the volunteers who keep Little Free Libraries stocked across the county, children’s books go to hospital wards, and local literacy projects take what suits them.
The full account of what happens to your books.
Pasco County questions
Where can I donate books in Pasco County?
Two ways, and one of them is on your doorstep. Bring any amount to 5266 State Road 54 in New Port Richey, weekdays between 10am and 5pm, with no minimum and no appointment. Or book a free collection from your home: thirty items or more, anywhere in the county from Aripeka down to Holiday and across to Dade City.
What day do you collect in Pasco County?
It depends which half you are in, and Pasco is the only county where that is true. West Pasco runs on Mondays and east Pasco runs on Fridays. The split follows the drive rather than the map: the coastal towns are close together and the eastern ones are spread out, so they get different days instead of one impossible route.
Do you really collect out in Shady Hills, Aripeka or Trilby?
Yes, and they are on the schedule rather than being exceptions. Rural Pasco is a longer drive, which is exactly why it goes on a set day with the rest of that end of the county. The thirty item minimum is the same everywhere and there is no distance charge.
Can I bring books to the $1 sale instead?
Yes, and it is a good day to do it. The MaxX Book Bonanza runs the 4th Saturday of every month, 9am to 2pm, at the same State Road 54 address. We are open anyway and there are plenty of hands to help you unload.
Who benefits from books donated in Pasco?
The nearest library group to most of west Pasco is the Friends of South Holiday Library, and our monthly $1 sale raises money for them and for the Friends of the Clearwater Library System next door in Pinellas. Beyond the sale, books go to the volunteers who stock Little Free Libraries, to children’s hospital wards and to local literacy projects.
Nearby: donating books in Pinellas County · Hillsborough County · book donation in Tampa Bay