Publishing Industry

Major book publishers in America have an agreement with major bookstores that if the books don't sell, the stores can return them for credit with that publisher. It incentivizes the store to take risks with their stock. Some stores don't send them back, though. For books that are cheaper to print than they are to ship, the publisher doesn't necessarily want the book back. They just want proof that the store isn't lying when they say it didn't sell. So, many publishers allow bookstores to rip the covers off of their books and mail those back and destroy the rest of the book. This is why how lots of books have warnings on the first page saying, essentially, “If you bought this book without a cover, its stolen.”