Book sellers are rarely stuck with unsold inventory. They almost always have the ability to send unsold inventory (though not magazines) back to the publisher for full credit.
It’s a shame, I must have thrown thousands and thousands of books away, instead of donating them to a library or something.
But then again, I guess the library would only accept so many copies of the same nascar-themed trashy romance novel.
I can't imagine publishers would let this happen more than once or twice before revoking this ability for the seller. Inventory handling is expensive.
Because of a worker error, the copies were left under a leak in the warehouse roof.
I understand there was an insurance claim. It was all very unfortunate.