Did a search and couldn't' find a thread on this ( but there has to be one somewhere)

Not sure whether to PM senders or not.  On was requested on 1/27 other on 1/28.  the details show the book mailed on 2/2 and the other on 2/5 so I don't think that is the problem, unless they marked it mailed and didn't. 

I know that the date for  reporting non arrival is 3/1 and 3/5 (I think).  So they are not past the limit.  How long should it take the books to get here?  Both are from CA, although different senders.  The date mailed shows they mailed them on time, but . . .  There is no DC on them so I can't check their location. 

So, do I PM them in case they marked them mailed, but didn't and they need a nudge, or wait until the deadline and go from there?

The books aren't something that I am a hurry to get, so if they missed mailing them due to weather, thought someone mailed them, illness in family and forgot to drop them off or other reason and they can mail them now that is okay. I would have liked a PM that says, oops, sorry didn't mail book, it is now on way, though. 

Anyhow, do I wait or what?

Janette

Decided to wait a day before the lost date to sending a PM, but I ended up with the virus (my fault, stupidly let my virus protection run out) and so have been offline while it was being fixed.  Checked yesterday and the two books have been marked as lost.

PM'd them both yesterday; one replied, she thought she had mailed it and after checking her car found it under the seat, she was mailing it that day.  No problem, stuff like that happens;  I let her know it wasn't a big deal I noted, politely) that I learned from here and from own experiences to not mark books mailed until AFTER (my caps here, not in PM) I have dropped them off at post office.

The other person hasn't responded yet to my PM, which was yesterday morning (3/3); so am curious  --   what do I do next?  It isn't a big deal and I am not in a rush to get the book, nor is it one that is hard to get; the opposite in fact.  There are several of these books available and again, I am not in a rush, so if the book takes another month to get here it isn't a problem.

What I am not sure of is what to do  now  --  wait a while to see if it shows; wait and see if the sender responds; PM them again after a couple more days or just forget it and order it from someone else or what?

Thanks for the info

Janette

It's best to just wait. The system will automatically mark the books lost if they don't arrive by the dates shown on your screen.

I would wait until closer to the deadline. Even then I'd probably just let the books go lost before PMing. You can always mark them received from the Transaction Archive.

Since you're in a hurry to get them you could go ahead and send a PM. It wouldn't hurt anything, but at this point I'd say it's still too early to tell. You have almost two weeks left for the one that will go lost on 3/5 after all.

PBS gives nearly a month before marking books lost for a reason. Sometimes they take that long.

I think we get quite accustomed to waiting only a week or so for our books, so much so that we forget that there's a reason why the timeframe set up by PBS is as long as it is.  I've definitely been there before, mind you, waiting and waiting and wondering "Where the hell's my book?" but sometimes it just takes more time than we'd like.  It's possible the books are lost, it's possible they were never mailed, but it's also possible that they'll arrive the next time you get mail, so the best thing you can do is just wait it out.  The listing on the En Route tab even says something about waiting to send messages to them until after a certain date.  With the way the weather's been across more than half the country (among other factors) it wouldn't surprise me to find items taking longer than usual.  So basically you're living a Tom Petty song because, especially when it comes to books, waiting IS the hardest part.

Have some patience, and keep your fingers crossed, the books might still come eventually!

Janette - I don't know where you live, but I live in the middle of the country, so most of my books seem to arrive at their destinations in a fairly short time, except those that go to the coasts. California books seem to take the longest to get to their destination.  As others have said, just wait.  The system does a fantastic job of taking care of things.  Pat

I wait until about a week before the deadline and then send them a very nice e-mail asking if they sent the book.  I always relate the time I "lost" a library book under the front seat of my car so that they don't look upon my PM as a criticism.  One time when I did this (the book had DC and was still in the "received information from sender" mode) the book magically was scanned into their local post office the day after they received my PM.  Another time I got a return PM thanking me for the "heads up" saying that they had, in fact, forgotten to actually mail the book. 

I even PM'ed someone who had accepted my book request, but it was going to time out because they hadn't clicked the "I'm going to mail" button.  I got an immediate return PM thanking me for reminding them that they hadn't followed through on my request.  They printed the wrapper and will be mailing the book on Monday.

Many people here think that we should not PM people about a transaction.  I disagree.  I think that as long as the PM is polite and friendly (not a demand), that most people would not mind getting a PM asking for a status report or even whether the book was actually sent.  I know that I would not mind getting a PM like that as long as it was polite and friendly.

There are frequent and lively debates on whether or not PMs should be part of various points in a transaction's progress.  Many folks don't like to PM ahead of time, some don't like to ask questions while waiting, others complain of "thank you" messages.  On the other hand, there are those of us who feel free to communicate at will, and do so often.  There's really no right or wrong answer, it's just a matter of preference.  One hopes to encounter like-minded individuals in the course of such exchanges, but sometimes we run against our opposites.  It's just part of the ebb and flow of Swapping.  You have every right to feel comfortable with whichever stance suits you best.  There are times when a message won't necessarily have the effect we desire, or can't bring a change in the results of a swap, but aside from such circumstances the level and timing of communication is entirely up to us, much like any other social interaction.

I've recently have had three books go lost in the system.  I didn't PM the senders before they went lost--figuring that I should give them at least as long as PBS does.

As soon as PBS marked the books lost, I PMed the senders to let them know that I wouldn't re-order the books in hopes that the ones they sent would arrive shortly, so I could mark them received from the transaction archive.

The first one was never actually mailed--received a PM a few days later from the sender saying that it had been mailed late due to bad weather.  She actually mailed it first class after receiving my PM and it got to me a day or so after that.  That's some severe bad weather--over a month's worth! LOL!!  I marked the book received in my Transaction Archive noting the Postmark date for PBS.

The second one, the sender responded shortly after receiving my PM that they were sorry the book appeared to be lost.  That was about two weeks ago.  Still haven't seen the book, but haven't re-ordered because my TBR pile is huge, and I'm still hoping the book will show up.

The third was just marked lost by PBS yesterday.  Haven't heard back from the sender yet, and when I checked my PMs it doesn't appear as though she's read the PM I sent her yet.  Again, since I have lots to read I'll just sit on this for a while.

I'm hoping that I've reached my quota of lost books for a while!!

Thanks for the help, I am not in a hurry (I think the way I worded it gave the impression I wanted them soon) it wouldn't really matter if they would take even a month or more to get here.

I have been lucky in getting books within a week, so I was surprised when I checked my notebook (I keep a record of what I order and what I sent out) that they hadn't arrived yet.

I know the weather is really affecting shipment and it could be piled up somewhere due to highways being closed to bad weather.

Will it affect the sender?  That is another concern of mine.  I should have checked first to see if it can create a problem for them if the books haven't been mailed out.   I don't want someone to get blamed for sending a book late when it was the weather or other circumstances that caused it (illness in family or such).

I have more than enough in my TBR pile that I won't miss two books, LOL. 

Just wasn't sure of the procedures, wait and see or give a nudge.  In reading lots of threads I see posts that discuss books not being sent out for various reasons (some reasonable and some not) and so am having no problem in giving the benefit of the doubt and say that the books were mailed and stuck somewhere and someday will come home to roost. 

On the flip side, if they thought they mailed it and didn't then they would want to know it wasn't mailed so they could get it in the mail. 

As for my location, I live in Ohio, so the books will be coming a good distance (from CA) so not sure what black shipping hole they may have to pass through and come out who knows where.

I'll give it a few more days and then politely let them know that if they missed mailing the book, could they put it in the mail, no problem if that has happened.  I pay my bills online due to forgetting to mail the payments out (which is the truth!).  If they have mailed them then I know that they have landed in one of the shipping worm holes and someday it will turn up. 

Janette

Will it affect the sender?  That is another concern of mine.  I should have checked first to see if it can create a problem for them if the books haven't been mailed out.   I don't want someone to get blamed for sending a book late when it was the weather or other circumstances that caused it (illness in family or such).

I think the only way it will affect them is that they won't get their credit until you receive the book and mark it received (which you can do from your Transaction Archive if the book does go lost before you get it).

I agree with Kate on this one.  You wouldn't be out of line to pm, but do wait until just a few days (under a week) from the lost date.  If you decided to pm, be very careful it's polite and non-accusatory.  The books may have been mailed on time, or slid under the car seat like Kates, or possibly a RL situation came up.  If mailed from California, these books were routed through the Bell sorting center which has a bad reputation for loss and delay. 

bumping

You can order the book again but you run the risk of receiving the lost copy and having to pay 2 credits and getting 2 copies of the book. UNLESS the postmark from the lost book was from the week before the book was declared lost (or later), and you got no notification from the sender that the book would be/was mailed late before reordering a second copy. In that case you do not need to mark the late mailed/lost book received. More details in this Help Doc: http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/help_item.php?id=547

Been awhile since I've had one go lost.  But if the book is wishlisted, does the requesting member automatically return to the front of FIFO?  Non wishlisted books must be re-ordered. 

How's my memory doing??

Some members like to wait a week or two before reording, JIC the book really is in the mail.  The individual hold option works great for wishlisted books.

If your lost book is wishlisted you'll return to your place in the line. You might have a few people in front of you (like those with RC's your sender skipped past) but you'll end up pretty near the front. Non-WL books go back to your reminder list and you need to reorder.

I've had a few go lost myself, but the only cases where my books have turned up in the mail after going lost at PBS is when the sender is in Hawaii. Every other time a book's gone lost I never received it (and in many cases I doubt it was ever even mailed). I had a book I sent go lost once, during christmas time, and it turned up 2 weeks later after the sender already ordered another. I let her keep her credit cause I was in the christmas spirit :)

Thanks everyone,

The book is not wishlisted, it is just one I would like to read, and there are over 100 copies available, so I don't have to worry there won't be any available soon.

I think, going on the rather safe than sorry aspect, that I will just ignore the book for now and see what happens.  If the sender pm's me that they are sending me the book that is okay, I can accept it.

If, however, it is a couple weeks or more and I haven't heard from the sender, I will assume that they didn't mail the book and are just ignoring the PM I sent.  So, later on (a month or so) I will reorder the book.  I'm not in a big hurry to get the book, there are many others I want to read.

I only have around 10 on my WL and two are autorequest.  Most of what I want are on my reminder list (around 400); I will be ordering mostly from there.   

Thanks again for the help. 

Janette

I would be annoyed if I got a PM asking if I mailed a book if it was not past the lost date yet. I would feel like I am being accused of not mailing. Sometimes mail takes a while- it took 3 weeks once for a book to go just the next state over.

I would be annoyed if I got a PM asking if I mailed a book if it was not past the lost date yet. I would feel like I am being accused of not mailing. Sometimes mail takes a while- it took 3 weeks once for a book to go just the next state over.

If they wait until after it is late, you will never get your credit for sending the book.  The recipient will get their credit back and you will be out a book, unless you didn't actually send it.  I'm wondering why this would get your back up.  I've done this several times and never gotten a negative response from the sender.  It even prompted one to actually send the book (it was scanned the day after my PM). 

This is one reason why I always use DC.  I send the recipient the DC number so they can look and see that the book was sent.  If I go in and see that it doesn't look like the book was scanned on my end, I take a look to see if I somehow didn't send the book.  I've been sending out a lot of books lately and know how easy it would be for one to slide under the seat of my car and become misplaced.  I wouldn't know about it unless the person on the other end inquired about the book.

BTW, this brings up a question I have.  If a book goes lost, I know that the receipient will get their credit back.  What happens if the book shows up and the recipient marks it received.  Does the sender automatically get their credit or does the receipient have to send them a credit?

If a book goes lost, I know that the receipient will get their credit back.  What happens if the book shows up and the recipient marks it received.  Does the sender automatically get their credit or does the receipient have to send them a credit?

Kate--When a lost book is received, the receiver just needs to go into their transaction archive to mark the lost book as received.  Doing that will take a credit from their account and transfer it the the sender's account.

I've done this when a book that I had ordered was marked lost in the mail, but I received it about a week later. 

If they wait until after it is late, you will never get your credit for sending the book. 

Kate, they are still obligated to mark the book received from the Transaction Archive when it arrives. But, yes, they have gotten their credit back from PBS in the meantime.

I agree with you about sending a PM, though. Every time I have had a book about to go lost, I have sent a PM a few days before the "late" date, and it has turned out each time that the person had received the book, but not marked it received.

Yes, I know that they receive e-mails from PBS, but those didn't seem to make them want to mark the books received. In each case, the other person responded to my PM, and marked the book received.

Having said this, I don't think that this is a huge problem, I have never had a book actually "go lost" in more than 500 books mailed, and I stopped using DC for every book a long time ago. I have only had to PM about 4 or 5 people out of that 550 books mailed.

I've had very few books I've sent go 'lost', but I usually wait until PBS marks it so, then send a PM to the requester saying I'm sorry it went lost and hopefully it will be received soon.  Unfortunately, I think I've only had one book show up after having gone lost.  Took 6 weeks to get from Kansas to Oklahoma.   LOL.

Pat

I would be annoyed if I got a PM asking if I mailed a book if it was not past the lost date yet. I would feel like I am being accused of not mailing. Sometimes mail takes a while- it took 3 weeks once for a book to go just the next state over.

******************************************************************************************

I am sure that many will agree with you, but there are many, such as me, who would be glad to receive a PM asking me if I had mailed the book.  It is easy to put a book beside you and then in traveling it get knocked off and slide under the seat.  Or give it to someone to mail it for you and they forget to mail it. 

So, I would like to be PM'd so I would know and could then look for the book and get it out in the mail.  I wouldn't see it as accusing me of not mailing the book, but a helpful "touching base" aspect.  Out of seven books I was waiting to receive, one took a long time (over two weeks) to get to me, it was stuck in CA for over a week; the sender had used the DC and I was able to see where it was at.  The two that are now marked as lost didn't have the DC so there was no way to know where they were at; even a DC doesn't guarantee anything if it isn't scanned at the PO where mailed from or along the way, even though it is nice to be able to check. 

The senders' had marked them as mailed, but obviously one had not been mailed.  For me, it is no big deal; one responded that she thought she had mailed it and so is now sending it.  I will get it when I get it.  

The other, so far no response.  That could be due to a lot of reasons, with the virus that was bouncing around they may have it and so can't get online (my computer was down for a week with it), they could be out of town, had an illness in the family, or other.  If I don't hear from them in a couple of weeks or more I figure they have had a problem or could be ignoring my PM and the notes from PBS.  

I personally wouldn't mind a PM if a book is marked mailed and it is three weeks after mail date and no book.  It wouldn't bother me at all to receive a PM asking me if I had mailed the book.  But that is me and I don't expect others to feel the same way I do.  That is what makes it hard though in such situations as this.  Since I would see a PM as a positive aspect, I would be more inclined to send one to the sender, not with the aspect of accusing them, but wanting to provide them with information concerning the book and it status as mailed or not mailed that I would want to have.   

If I had PM'd the one person she would have realized she hadn't mailed the book and it would have been in the mail before the lost timeout and no problem.  I don't know what it does to her standing here at PBS with the book being marked by PBS as lost.  Or to the person who hasn't, as this point, responded to my PM.  If they don't ever respond, send me the book, are they then affected negatively in their standing with PBS?  

Janette

Janette, I'm with you.  Not only would I not mind getting a PM BEFORE the book was marked lost, but I'll take the chance and send a gently worded PM to the sender BEFORE the book is marked lost.   As a TG, I deal with many issues just like this and taking steps after the fact doesn't usually help the situation.  I think if a PM is sent as a reminder and worded properly, without accusation, most people won't mind.

The other issue I see on a daily basis is people not marking their books mailed.  They mail them but forget to mark them mailed and and that causes all kinds of problems.  Oftentimes a gently worded PM to the sender, reminding them to mark the book mailed before the request times out and is canceled would avoid such problems.

We're human, we forget and we make mistakes.  I see nothing wrong with a helping hand to try and avoid those mistakes.