Seasonal Residents · Snowbirds · New Mexico
Heading Home for the Season? Let Me Take the Books.
Every spring, thousands of seasonal residents close up their New Mexico place and drive north — and the books rarely make the trip. They’re heavy, they’re cheap to replace, and nobody wants to haul a winter’s worth of paperbacks across three states. In the Albuquerque metro I pick them up free, scheduled by route. Anywhere else in New Mexico, the covered 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE takes them on your way out of town.
Request Your Free Pickup
Tell me what you have and where it is. I do the lifting, any condition, no sorting. Tell me your timeline and I’ll do my best to work with it. Texts go straight to my phone at 505-250-3804.
Prefer to drop off? Open 24/7.
The covered box outside the gate, by the road, at 5445 Edith Blvd NE takes books, DVDs, CDs, records, video games and cameras, any hour. Too much for the box? Come 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., when someone is there to help unload.
The spring exodus, and the books left behind
New Mexico fills up every winter with seasonal residents — retirees escaping northern cold, snowbirds wintering in the Rio Grande valley and the southern towns, part-year residents who keep a casita in Santa Fe or a place near the Las Cruces sun. And every spring, when the weather turns and it’s time to head back, the same quiet problem repeats itself: what to do with everything accumulated over a season that isn’t coming home in the car.
Books are almost always the first thing to go. A season of reading on the patio adds up fast, and books are the worst thing to move — pound for pound the heaviest belongings most people own, and the cheapest to re-buy on the other end. So they get left in the rental, boxed up in a closet for a landlord to deal with, or worse, dropped in a dumpster on the way out of town.
They don’t have to. I’m Josh Eldred, and I run the New Mexico Literacy Project: free book pickup across the Albuquerque metro, scheduled by route, plus a covered drop box that never closes. Before you lock up and leave, text me, and the books become my problem instead of yours.
Frequently asked questions
I'm a snowbird heading back north for the summer — can you pick up my books before I leave?
Yes, if your place is in the Albuquerque metro. Text or call 505-250-3804 with your address, a rough count and your departure date. Pickups are scheduled by route, so if your date comes first, the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE takes the books any hour.
I'm giving up my New Mexico place entirely. Can you clear the whole library?
In the Albuquerque metro, yes: the whole collection, any condition, any size, free and scheduled by route. Outside the metro there is no pickup. Bring the books to the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or come 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., when someone is there to help unload.
What if I'm leaving on short notice?
Tell me your timeline and I'll work with it. If your departure is sooner than I can schedule a pickup, the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE in Albuquerque is always open — drop the books any hour, no appointment. There's always a path that isn't a dumpster.
Do you take books in any condition?
Every condition. Sun-faded paperbacks from the patio, water-spotted books from a casita, old magazines, encyclopedias — all welcome. Most are resold to fund the free service or routed to readers; what can't be reused goes to the paper recycler, never the landfill.
Lock up with one less thing on the list
Text me before you head north and I’ll do my best to clear the books before your departure — free, any condition. Or drop them at the 24/7 box anytime; it never closes.
24/7 Drop Box: outside the gate at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87107