One of the benefits of the new Standard Membership is the Ability to see number of available copies of books.  How do we do that?

It is probably the same as it always has been...put the book on your reminder list. I think the difference will be that you will now have to have a Standard membership to see that info.

No, the number of books available will be on the book detail page (just like the number of copies of a DVD is available on the detail page on the sister site).  (I hope it's not going away from the Reminder List, but who knows?)

I notice one other benefit is "Directed Delivery - When multiple copies of a book you order are available, we’ll determine the most expedient route to you."  This is great for the requestor, but not for the poster, because it's no longer a FIFO queue.  In fact, members in Hawaii and Alaska are really getting shafted--they are hardly ever going to be the most expedient source.  Even for very popular books, they will probably never get picked; the best they can hope for is that eventually they will be at the top of the list and an a la carte member will request the book.

Really?  Since I've accumulated enough TBRs for probably the next 20 years at which time I'll be in my 80's I'm primarily a member to share my big Bookshelf so was considering going to a la carte at least at first.  I usually use my credits now for gifts, WL or sell them for postage to mail more books out.  As I mentioned in another thread I take a loss doing this as $2.00 per credit is way less than it costs me to mail out.  It has been a hobby and I enjoy people getting books and like making deals.  But I won't even be able to check availability of books on my reminder list??  I'm getting more disappointed all the time.  

Note to TPTB:  You also need people with bookshelves to be mailing out books.

I was just wondering the same thing. Will the number of books in the system still show in the Reminder List? I have purchased the Limited Membership.

I ordered a DVD from someone in my city and it took over 2 weeks.  The sorting hubs in my state seem to make local mail slower, (my opinion). 

It also did not help that the sender did not put enough postage.  $1.35 was not enough postage but the PO eventually delivered to me.  

I would love to have Alaska or Hawaii on my map.  I don't think I will use directed delivery. 

I agree, I am planning on a standard membership and am not pleased about directed delivery.  I like the fairness of FIFO and usually it takes me longer to get a book from my home state than from a distant state.  Also, I am more interested in the books than the social component of the site, so all the favoring of friends doesn't thrill me.

This is the only part that bothers me.  Is it fair to the poster that their book is passed over because a person whose book might be the last listed lives closest?  Some parts of the country have more people, more posters.  You also aren't taking into consideration how long it takes a member to respond, nor how long it takes the post office to deliver a package, who are really the people determining how long it takes a book to get to you.  I really don't like the thought that I've got a book in the FIFO queue, and it's #1, and someone at #43 gets theirs selected because they live two states closer to the requestor.  So some peoples' requests could potentially slow down quite a bit while others' get slammed with requests on a regular basis.  How is that fair?  How do I know if I'm going to have my requests seriously drop?  I would like to see Directed Delivery eliminated because again, only the post office can determine how long it takes a package to arrive (unless you use UPS or FedEx, of course.)

This is the first I heard of Directed Delivery...what is it? 

 I really don't like the thought that I've got a book in the FIFO queue, and it's #1, and someone at #43 gets theirs selected because they live two states closer to the requestor.  So some peoples' requests could potentially slow down quite a bit while others' get slammed with requests on a regular basis.  How is that fair?  How do I know if I'm going to have my requests seriously drop?  

That really bothers me too. I've seen no relationship between how far a book has had to travel and how fast it makes the trip. Media mail is handled low priority. The routes can be quite amusing to watch when the shipper has done the PBS postage and you can watch the little truck. Ive had things from near by states take a long time,  while other books rush in from the coast. So I see no advantage to it. In FIFO eventually I'll move to #1. Under the new system my book will be requested if I happen to be the closest one. My transaction maps shows a lot of action on the east coast, now those request would go first to the other members on the coast.

I have had gold key and directed delivery for quite a while.   I requested from TPTB that we have the choice to pick FIFO.  99 percent of the time I will not be reading the book right away and would prefer they get requested FIFO.  I doubt we will see it, but I think it would be nice if we could pick.

I too have always thought that was unfair-- I like the option to request FIFO-- it may be slow but at least it is fair!

Yes, I live in GA and my postal clerks have told me that Media Mail to the West Coast nearly always goes by Air as there ends up being room on the planes and I have noticed mail going back and forth from CA go quicker than closer states.

I know that a lot of factors are taken into consideration for directed delivery -- not just the distance.  But the formula they use is probably a trade secret.  My understanding is that it's a little tweak. I think that if one member has been waiting three years to send a book, and another a month, they aren't going to choose the second member just because she'd closer.  But if one member has been waiting three years, and the other 2 years and 11 1/2 months, the member who is closer may get the order.

Directed delivery has been around for awhile if you had gold key membership. I definitely do not think it makes anything faster, unless you are in Hawaii and get a book from within your state.