I received a request for a book that's been on my shelf for awhile. It was a brand new book when I posted it, has never even been read. It's a thin paperback.

I picked it up to look through it and found that it's... bumpy.  The covers are still flat and in perfect shape, but the pages are rippled from top to bottom, more towards the inside/binding. The outer half of the page is fine. The page doesn't feel like water damage - I'm guessing it's from humidity.

Should I mail it or cancel?

I might try to dry it out first.  do you have a room that has less humidity - or possibly try a hair dryer (briefly) at the lowest temp?  It should de-bump.  But, really, the paper quality of so many books is so poor, so many look wavy right from the store, so I woouldn't worry too much.  The problem is, others may feel differently.

I would consider my storage room the least humid room in the house. It's bright and sunny. (Though I don't keep the books in the direct sunlight, of course.)

On closer look, I actually think this might be an issue with the way the book was bound. It's radiating out from the binding.

I think it is postable. I've seen some like that brand new from the store.

I've purchased a few new that were that way - you don't notice until you start to read because they are "flat" from all outward appearances. I'd consider it postable as well.

Just to be on the safe side, I would PM the requestor and tell them about the condition of the book.  Explain that it was new and you have no idea why it's "bumpy" now.  I suspect it's because they are using really cheap paper these days and humidity was a factor.

One thing you might want to try is to put the book over a heavy weight for a day or two to see if it doesn't even the book out.

I live in one of the dryest parts of the country (inland SoCal) & my new books sometimes have that *bumpy* look/feel (I call it deep waves).  I can't believe humidity has anything to do with it -- we're so dry here, it's amazing.  I've come to believe it's cheap-@ss paper & shoddy binding.  Hardbacks are no longer immune from this issue either.  I'd PM the person & if they decline, offer the book in the BB or genre threads, listing its condition.  That's what I do & the books are always requested.

I have a similar delemia.  I received two books that have very wavy pages.  My first thought was these are water damaged.  But I can't find any water marks anywhere.  I did not mark them a RWAP  Just the extremely wavy pages.  So now I'm not sure if I should repost them or not.  Since I was a little distraught about them when I received them, I'm worried next person will not be happy and RWAP them on me.

I guess I'd go with the PM the requestor and explain and leave it up them

Was it a children's paperback book?  I find that the Magic Treehouse paperback books (and maybe other smaller books) have wavy pages toward the spine, but flat at the edges.  It clearly doesn't look like water damage.  I looks as if the binding is too tight, causing a slight gathering of the edge of the paper at the binding.  I have seen new Magic Treehouse books like that, and I have mailed out books like that.  I think that is just the way some books are and is not "damage".  I'd go ahead and mail the book

A lot of the recycled paper doesn't end up being as nicely bound or glued with the best products.  I am coming to believe that new books with the wavy pages we're blaming on humidity is really mainly lower-grade paper and binding processes. I really hate recycled paper in books.  Don't mind it in toilet paper. ;D

Ruth

The books really are much poorer quality these days. I work in a bookstore, and we have books that are in that kind of condition coming out of the boxes from the publisher, before we even put them on the shelves! I also think the publishers are being a lot more careless with the books these days - you wouldn't believe the amount of merchandise we get that is so damaged right out of the box that we just have to destroy it.

I agree with Valerie.  At garage sales I look for books. I ofter see Magic Tree House reasonable. Invariably they are wavy near the middle (often otherwise look new). I usually don't buy them because I don't want a RWAP because they think it's water damage.  It's so frustrating because I know alot of people like these books.

Hi Nancy - I've sent out several Magic Treehouse books through PBS and no one has RWAP'd me or complained.  I was nervous about the first one.  I knew it wasn't water damage, but some peope think wavy pages means water damage.   I think more people ae realizing now that it's the paper quality.

Was it a children's paperback book?

Yup, sure was. I decided to go ahead and send it, figuring that since it seemed to be a production issue, the requester might not be able to get a better copy anyway. No complaint.