Would it be weird or against the rules to put that you want the sender to be able to mail the book within 2 days in a requester condition?  I've only received 4 books (I'm a newbee) and yet for 2 of those I've had to wait over a week for a person to send it.  Then on one, they actually never did click the sent button, so my request was cancelled by the system, (after 2 weeks!!!).  I have a lot of books on my list, so to wait a week for a book to be mailed, or two weeks for the system to cancel the request, ticks me off when I could just order another one.

Would like others' opinion.

Welcome to PBS. 

I suppose you could Holly, but it will limit the number of members that can fulfill your book request.  Some member cannot mail until the weekend, due to work and postal limitations.  A few members admit they decline all (or almost all) RC's. 

I don't believe your proposed condition violates site user guidelines, so you can certainly give it a try if you wish.  And it might work for you, or you could find that it takes even longer for your request to get to a sender that can/will meet your conditions.

Curious to see more opinions.

It wouldn't be against the rules to have "mail the book within 2 days" as part of your RC.

I just don't think it would help you get books that much faster. Some people reject all RCs, so taking into account the amount of time it would take for a request to roll over to the next person or persons before it is accepted, you might end up waiting longer.

I usually click on "Mail later" and pick the last available day to give myself a cushion, but many times I do mail it out the next day. Many others have posted that they do the same thing.

As I have gathered more books in my TBR through the club, I am no longer as impatient to receive books. Maybe with time you might find this to be the case for you as well.

Another idea for getting books quickly is to make a posting in the Book Bazaar specifying you want a quicker turn-around time, and order directly from someone's shelf if she gets in touch with you. Also consider Gold Key membership with Directed Mailing, although I'm not sure how much quicker that turns out to be in reality.

Good luck and happy swapping.

Your request does not break any rules, so if you really want to do it, feel free. Word it as politely as possible. Because probably people will be grumpy about it. People tend to get themselves all fired up and righteous about RCs sometimes.

I think what you will find, though, after you have used the site for a while, is that you will have a pile of books waiting to be read, and you will not be in a big hurry for any particular book. The rules do give people up to 12 days after the book request to mail out the book (5 days to accept the request, 5 days to mail, 2 days grace period).

Maybe something like this:

"Hi. Thanks for looking at my book order. I am hoping to receive this book as quickly as possible. I would really appreciate it if you could decline this Requestor Condition if you are unable to mail the book within 2 days. If you decline my Requestor Condition, your book will remain in it's place in line, so the next request for this title will go to you again. Thanks so much, I appreciate it!

When I was first on this site, I got very impatient for books to arrive. But now, somehow, it doesn't bother me - although I admit that I sometimes get impatient for a particular book! It isn't what only others have said - that you build up a stack of books to read - because in my case, the books I get are usually for my kids, or for reference purposes, or for use at some point in the future. I think it's just that as I got used to the site, I got used to the wait and gained in patience.

People told me that PBS teaches patience, and I think they were right - even though hearing that, at the time, just made me more impatient. 

If I were you, then, I'd give it a few months. Order books from elsewhere if you really need to have the books soon, but just see what happens with your patience level. You can always try the RC, but maybe, with time, you won't want it so much.

Hope you find a good solution for yourself!

It's a very interesting thought.  I agree that you could do it, but it really might increase the average time to get books.  A lot of people could turn it down, and the book would keep rolling over until someone accepts it, taking days. Actually,  I'd probably turn it down, because I usually only mail once a week, so unless I hit the request right before I was going to mail I couldn't meet it.  I'm also not sure how you'd enforce it if someone ignored it.  Ask for your credit back when you have a postable book?    I have a plastic wrap RC, but I'd only ask for a credit if the book was damaged due to my RC being ignored.  Ignoring this one would never result in any tangible book condition change. 

You could try it , and see how it works.  I like Sara's wording as it's nonconfrontational, and its something I think more people would think about accepting.  I'd be curious to hear whether or not it works for you. 

I am wondering if you added that RC and there is only one copy available, you may not get the book.  I, too, choose the longest date to give myself time in case something comes up, but I usually mail the next day or two, except for the weekends.  My post office is closed so the book sits there until Monday.  You could try it and see how receptive the senders are to your RC. 

It is true that once your TBR pile grows you will not mind waiting for books.  Most of those I request arrive within 10 days, even media mail.  I am a gold key member so perhaps that feature that selects someone closer to me has something to do with the mailing time.  But please take into account that the Post Office has closed a vast number of processing centers meaning the mail gets routed more and can result in a longer arrival time.  I have had first class mail from Eugene to my town, which is 14 miles west of Eugene, take 3 days when it used to take one day, basically overnight.

Hi, Holly,

Welcome to PBS!

I understand how badly you want to get books, but if I saw a RC like the one you're suggesting, I would decline it. I don't have a printer and don't plan to buy one since the ink is too expensive for how little I print out, so I can't do printable postage unless I go to the library. 

I work 46 hours a week.  Mon through Thurs my hours are longer than the post office's, and mine doesn't have a blue machine.  My hours on Mon through Thurs are also longer than the library's (I live in a small town).  I can only mail on Fridays and Saturdays, so if you wanted a book from me and had a 2 day mail requirement, I would turn it down and not bother with PM-ing you to explain the situtation and get you to remove the RC.

Go ahead and give it a try; but I don't think its going to get you anymore books faster; it actually might limit the books you get.  PBS is about patience.

-RD

I usually mail next day but often choose 3 or 4 days out when accepting a request, just in case it's going to take me 2 days to get it in the mail.  That way, I don't get the annoying "mark this book mailed" emails from PBS that I'd get choosing 2 days and not mailing for 2 days.

Some time ago (a couple of years) I got a request for a book where the member had the '2 day turnaround' as part of their  request.  I mail twice a week - Monday and Thursday - I turned down the request as it wasn't in my timeframe.  Like others have said, if I get a request early Monday or Thursday before I go to the PO, the book will go out that day, otherwise it's my next mailing day.  I also indicate I'll mail at the last possible day.  Good luck with your RC.  Pat

Add me to the members that will generally choose the latest possible mail date, although I usually will mail out sooner.  Not sure if I'd turn down your RC or not...

Yep, I usually choose a later date although I often ship within the 48 hours.  Be prepared that even if you have the 2 day ship in your RC, a member will still have 5 days to accept that request.  Also, there would be the possibility that it would be declined and roll through a few members causing further delays.  I would definitely reconsider doing the RC.  If you need something quickly, perhaps your local library might have a copy you can pick up same day.

I suppose you could try it as an RC, but I doubt you'll have much luck. PBS's mailing regulations are presumably designed to be as equitable as possible to both senders and receivers - trying to get books moving but not punishing those who are unable to go to the post office at the drop of a hat. What is likely to happen is that your RC will be refused several times in a row, and by the time you get someone who can send ASAP you will have waited longer than you would have for a 'regular' mailing cycle. If you need a particular book quickly and multiple copies are available, you might try posting in the Book Bazaar forum to find if someone who has it in their inventory and can send right away will post it directly to you.

I don't mean to be snarky when I say the following, I mean it genuinely, and I'm really speaking to everyone who complains about the 'slowness of mailing', not just this one poster: if you need a book ASAP, buy it online or in a bookstore (remember those?) or get it from your local library. PBS is a bookswapping site, and it trades a little convenience for the lower cost of being able to trade books for points to use to get more books, rather than having to pay the new list price for everything you read. I use bookswapping sites a lot, but I still buy new books, as well as use the library all the time (including wishlist holds, which I have to pay a small fee for). Depending on what I need a book for, what else is on my to-read list and going on in my life, and what my budget looks like, I prioritize cost over convenience or vice versa. Expecting PBS to become something it's not is, in my opinion, an exercise in fruitless frustration.

I think this could really backfire.  As there are five days to accept or decline the order.  Then the five days starts over with the next member.

If you want your books fast, this RC will backfire on you.  The more people who turn you down due to the RC, the longer than ever it will take you to get books.

I would turn you down.  Life gets in the way sometimes of wrapping and mailing books.

I work full time, 9-6, and the post office near me doesn't open until 9.  If I can't get to the PO during my lunch hour, then it would likely be more than two days before I could mail a book.   So I feel like i'd have to decline your request.

MaryF

I might accept your request, but I would hold off clicking I could send until it was two days before the date I wished to mail the books. To be honest, and this might not sound that nice, I'm not super concerned with conforming to someone else's timeline on sending a book. Perhaps I might make an effort if there was a particular pressing reason, and/or if the book wasn't easily found new, but just wanting the book NOW because the requester wants things when they want things is really not going to light a fire under me. If the timing works out I'd accept, if not I would pass.

I'd really think twice about sending with this RC. Things happen and someone might not be able to make it to the PO in time and then that requestor could state that the sender didn't follow their RC.

As many have said, I don't think this will actually help your problem.

To put it into perspective, for kicks a while back I was ordering a book with many copies in the system (it was unusual, I currently mostly either seek out short-ISBN books or deals), so for fun I added an RC that stated "Just wanted to say hi, no special requests".

The first three people in the line were probably inactive accounts (that's ~15 days wait time regardless of what requests you put on there or if you have no RC).  The next two people declined the requests (not sure exactly how long they took to reply but it wasn't a long time, I wasn't actually timing it although now I wish I had), one gave no reason and the second state something like, does not meet requestor conditions.  The third actual person (sixth account) accepted and included a handwritten smiley face on the insert.

Oh, trucker-monkey, that's funny! It makes me want to order something that's heavily posted and try this RC myself.

Of course, it may not be a completely fair test of how people deal with RCs in general. It seems to me that even among active members, the longer a book has been on the shelf, the greater the chances that something else has happened to it. (I loaned it to someone - I forgot to remove it from my shelf after I gave it away - I don't know where it is - my toddler scribbled all over the pages.) In this case, turning down an RC might be an easy out—the potential sender could cancel based on the RC, then remove the book from their shelf with no potential mark against their account, compared to refusing to send a book listed on their bookshelf, which surely can't be a positive on the account (though I've done it more often than I care to admit).

I usually mail book within two days but sometimes I like the option to take longer.  The post office in the town I live in is only open two hours on Saturday.  I'm not going to make a special trip to the PO just to mail one book.  My husband will mail books for me during his work day.  There is a post office nearby so no trouble for him.  If I receive a request after 7 on Friday, it's going to be Monday until the book is mailed.  If I received a request like yours I would turn it down in a heartbeat.  It would annoy me a little as I am sure it would annoy others.  Even if I mailed the book in a timely manner within a day or so I cannot control how fast or slow the post office delivers books.

so for fun I added an RC that stated "Just wanted to say hi, no special requests". The next two people declined the requests....one gave no reason and the second state something like, does not meet requestor conditions.

LOL, trucker monkey! I wonder how exactly they couldn't meet your 'hi' RC. Maybe they couldn't say Hi back! 

I'm with the others that I can  only mail once a week, sometimes twice a week.  It's unfortunate that that isn't fast enough for some people, but that's my schedule.  I always mail books on time, but I just can't be at the post office every other day.

So, I'd say that putting this as a RC would just backfire and get most of your requests rejected.  If you need the book that desperately you should consider buying a copy new.