leftover original notes which were not put in to the circulation. Usually without signatures, numbers or date.
Stocks of stamps remaining unsold at the time that an issue is declared obsolete by a post office. Some countries have sold remainders to the stamp trade at substantial discounts from face value. The countries normally mark the stamps with a distinctive cancel. Uncanceled remainders usually cannot be distinguished from stamps sold over the counter before the issue was invalidated.
books that are surplus stock or that publishers no longer intend to stock. Remainders are sold to wholesalers at a significantly reduced price, who resell them to bookstores to sell to the public at reduced prices. see also Remainder Mark
Comic books that "remain" unsold at the newsstand. In the past the top 1/4 to 1/3 of the cover (or in some cases the entire cover) was removed and returned to the publisher for credit. This practice is the reason many comics from 1936-1965 are sometimes found as coverless copies or 3/4 cover copies.
Surplus books sold at a steep discount. A pubisher may remainder a book and sell off all its stock when putting it out of print, or it may sell only some of its copies to reduce its stock.
Unsold book stock. Remainders can include titles that have not sold as well as anticipated, in addition to unsold copies of later printings of bestsellers. These volumes are often remaindered - that is, remaining stock is purchased from the publisher at a huge discount and resold to the public.
Stocks of stamps remaining after an issue has been withdrawn, and sold as a lot "cancelled to order" or even unused, by the government.