Does the warehouse owe every book a look before the blade?

Question

Buy millions of used books by the pallet and, statistically, a few are the last surviving copies of something — a small-press run, a local history, a book nobody thought to save. Checking each one for rarity costs more than the book did.

Accepted Answer

Nothing in the unsealed record shows a rarity screen — the books were bought in bulk, not appraised. The existence proof that another way is possible: the Internet Archive scans without cutting and then stores every original, forever, in climate-controlled shipping containers. Preservation at scale is possible. It's just not free, and nobody is currently required to pay for it. (74% of Americans answer "Check every one" — floor est.)