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Topic: Book I sent lost

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Date Posted: 3/22/2014 1:44 PM ET
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Last Edited on: 12/1/21 8:09 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
sasssy25 avatar
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Date Posted: 3/22/2014 3:42 PM ET
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There's nothing else you can do, unless you used tracking.  If you did, you can report it to the post office, not that it will do much good.  Fortunately that doesn't happen often.  I think it's happened to me once.  From the Help Docs: 

A book I sent is lost in the mail!

If your book does not arrive by the 26th day (the 35th day if the sender or requestor is outside the contiguous US) after you marked it mailed, it will be declared lost in the mail at PBS.  This does not mean that the book is actually lost; it may simply be delayed en route.  Also, the requestor may be away from home and unaware if the book has arrived.  If so, he or she can mark it received from his or her Transaction Archive when he or she returns home, and credit will be granted when she or he does that.

A book sent to an active member at PBS will not earn credit until the requestor marks it received, unless PBS Delivery Confirmation or PBS Printable Postage is used to send the book. 

If a book you sent is declared Lost in the Mail at PBS:

  • First, contact the requestor (using the PM button on the "lost" transaction in your Transaction Archive) to confirm that the book was not received.

    • Sometimes the requestor just forgot to mark it received
    • Sometimes the requestor was away from home when the book arrived
    • If you don't hear back from the requestor within a week of sending a PM asking about the book, you should contact us to look into the situation.
    • You can contact the requestor using the PM button on the "lost" transaction in your transaction archive.
  • If the requestor confirms that the book was not received:

    • As the sender who has used Delivery Cofirmation (information from the USPS site): "...you should obtain information by calling 1-800-222-1811. If fourteen (14) or more postal business days have passed since the date of mailing, and the recipient has confirmed that the item has not arrived, you may call 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777) to request documentation of your issue." 
    • We used to give the Postal Inspection Service's website URL here, with a link to the Mail Theft/loss form, but that link is not reliable!  Google United States Postal Inspection Services and try to follow the links, or go to https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/
      • If it is working, the direct link to the Mail Theft form online is http://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MLNtRcvd.aspx (the Postal Inspection Service's website) - you can input the information online there . This will help USPS try to recover your book if it truly has been lost in the mail. If the link above does not work, here are directions to find the proper page: go to the website www.postalinspectors.uspis.gov or https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/ and then select "Investigations > Mail Theft > File a Mail Theft Complaint" from the menus.
        • This form at USPS is titled "Mail Theft"
        • This does  not mean only theft of mail.  USPS categorizes any mail that does not arrive or that is tampered with as "mail theft".
        • The choice that should be made under "Class" if Media Mail was used is "Parcel Post"
    • You can get the information about the transaction from the Transaction Archive:
      • Click "Transaction Archive" in the menu under My Account in the toolbar at the top of the site
      • Click the Request Details link on the right of the "lost in mail" transaction
      • If you need more information (such as requestor address) you can ask the requestor in a Personal Message for that information.
        • We are unable to provide member address information outside of the duration of an active transaction, due to the PBS Privacy Policy.
        • You can use the button on the transaction to contact the requestor.
    • If USPS does return your book to you, and it is undamaged:
      • You should ask the requestor (using the button on the Lost transaction in your Transaction Archive) if she still wants it.
      • If she does, you can re-send it.  If she does not, you can repost it.
      • If she does not respond to your PM, you should repost the book.

If you sent the book with Delivery Confirmation and it has been recorded as delivered by USPS but hasn't been marked received yet:

  • Remember that the book could have been scanned as "delivered" at the local PO, before it went to the requestor's mailbox--the actual delivery can be a few days later  Also, the book could have been misdelivered.
  • You should FIRST contact the requestor using the button on the transaction on the Books I've Mailed tab in My Account when a few days have passed after delivery.
  • If the requestor does not respond to your PM within a week, and has not marked the book received by a week after the delivery scan, contact us.  We will look into it.
  • If you used DC purchased through PBS, or PBS Printed Postage, you will already have gotten your credit for sending the book.

If you sent the book with DC purchased elsewhere and it has been recorded as delivered by USPS but hasn't been marked received yet:

  • First, contact the requestor from the active transaction (in the Books I've Mailed tab in My Account), or from the "lost" transaction in your Transaction Archive if the book has been declared Lost in the Mail by PBS.
  • If the requestor does not respond to your PM within a few days, contact us and we will look into it.
  • We cannot grant credit for DC purchased outside PBS, but we can check if this requestor has become inactive.
  • If this requestor is inactive, your book should be marked received by the system.

If you sent the book with PBS-DC and it was never scanned (this does happen, rarely), contact us.

  • PBS could not give QuickCredit if our system was never notified of a barcode scan.
  • If your sending record is good, you will get your credit for sending the book.  This is the CreditAssurance part of PBS-DC.
EmilyKat avatar
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Date Posted: 3/22/2014 3:57 PM ET
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Occasionally, if not marking books as received is noticed as that member's habit, a credit will show up months later.  That would be PBS doing housekeeping on inactive accounts. 

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Date Posted: 3/22/2014 4:02 PM ET
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Last Edited on: 12/1/21 8:08 PM ET - Total times edited: 2
fangrrl avatar
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Date Posted: 3/22/2014 5:05 PM ET
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Even it that's the case Shelia, it's fairly uncommon at PBS.  There can be delays, especially during certain(busy) times  of the year...like Spring Break, Christmas, summer & back to school, etc.  Your receiver could be out of town or experiencing an unexpected life event.   PBS Admin does check on these if reported, but if they take action it can take awhile (they attempt to contact the member and give them ample time to reply).

EmilyKat avatar
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Date Posted: 3/22/2014 5:09 PM ET
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PBS should get back to you by email in 48 hours.  With the understanding that is working days, not weekends.  A week is too long.  You should have heard from them.  You sent it in to the Feedback?  Bottom of the page under Company, then Contact Us, then Send Us Feedback.  (Live Help is volunteer members, not PBS staff.)

Can you check your spam filter or your club communications folder?

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Date Posted: 3/22/2014 5:22 PM ET
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Last Edited on: 12/1/21 8:08 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
farazon avatar
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Date Posted: 3/22/2014 8:11 PM ET
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I have had 2 books on their way to me go lost in the mail and I have often wondered if the sender sent it ? or if it was mis-delivered and then not forwarded to me. I had a neighbor ( 2 blocks down ) get a letter from my son that was supposed to be for me . He was in Iraq and I was anxious to hear from him. And this neighbor finally looked me up in the phone book after holding my letter for a week. Duh ! I walked quickly down to get it. That is when I knew other people do not attend to things as quickly as I would. He could have put it out in the mailbox for the carrier or dropped the letter off at my house.

 Shelia other things happen as well and even here in the South we've had more than our share of Winter weather .; Hopefully that book will be marked received soon.

melanied avatar
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Date Posted: 3/22/2014 11:21 PM ET
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Did you check your Credit Registry to see if the credit came back without anyone contacting you? PBS may have contacted the member and they gave up the credit without any contact.

PBS may not get back to you immediately if they are working on finding out what's up with the other member. They usually give a member a little time to respond to them. They'll usually respond in 48 hours if it is just to answer your question, but if they need to contact another member and give time for them to respond, maybe some back and forth correspondence, it could take a week.

I did not use PBS DC but my receipt from the po tracking says it was delivered.

This won't ever earn a credit. Unless the other member is shown to be inactive, PBS won't grant the credit unless the sender uses PBS Credit Assurance. The payment for that service is what pays for the credit that is given.

If the credit is not in your Credit Registry and you do not hear from PBS in the first few days of next week, follow up with them.



Last Edited on: 3/22/14 11:22 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
sasssy25 avatar
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Date Posted: 3/23/2014 12:03 AM ET
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PBS used to get back to people within 48 hours, but they hardly ever do anymore.  I know they've been working on the site a lot, so perhaps that may be the reason.  I don't know, I'm just guessing here.  I am always running into really weird scenarios where I need to contact them, and it often takes them quite a while to get back to me.  I'd contact them again after a week.  In the meantime, did you do any research on your own to see if the requester has an active account? 

BookLynx avatar
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Date Posted: 3/23/2014 1:08 AM ET
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Tangentially, difficulties that can arise in situations whereby a book was marked lost and credit has not been received for a book that had been marked mailed can be averted by using printable postage. For me the additional $0.55 fee for PBS printable postage is well worth it to avoid problems like Sheila's. The benefit of using PBS printable postage is that you get trade credit for the book as soon as you mark it mailed. This mitigates any issues that may arise regarding lost, damaged-in-the-mail, or unusual situations in so far as getting your credit. You will have a tracking record for having sent the book and will also have already received credit for sending it.
 



Last Edited on: 3/23/14 1:10 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
sarap avatar
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Date Posted: 3/23/2014 1:34 PM ET
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Sometimes books just get lost in the mail.

To put the actual loss into persepctive ....

I've mailed out 1600 books. Mostly without any DC. Out of those, 2 were lost in the mail and never marked received. If I had paid the fee for DC-only on all those books ... I would have spent $480 on JUST the PBS fee for DC, plus another $304 on the actual DC itself. When you balance the $784 I've saved myself against the roughly $5 in lost credits for lost books .... you can see why I choose to mail mostly without DC (although I do use it for multi-credit orders).

The OP has mailed out just under 400 books. And I don't know if she sometimes uses DC or never uses DC, but if she does/has, then that cost would have been roughly $196. Now she has one lost credit which she can replace in the book bazaar for slightly more than $2.

If people feel better using DC, then by all means, they absolutely should keep using it. But it doesn't really make financial sense, given the rarity of books actually going lost in the mail. I know DC fees also support the site, which is also good. But I do that other ways than DC.

Patouie avatar
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Date Posted: 3/23/2014 6:10 PM ET
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My experience is that the Admin will take care of members when there's a dispute and the other member doesn't respond within 5 days.  But as others said, if they are trying to get in touch with the other member, particularly if they think the member might be dealing with a weather or medical issue, it can take longer.  It's  a small Admin Team, and sometimes things can get backed up, but again, from my experience, I'd say they'll take care of you.

BookLynx avatar
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Date Posted: 3/24/2014 7:13 AM ET
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Sara has made several very good points. I, too, have sent over 1500 books and have rarely had a problem with USPS delivery. So, is DC worth the additional cost?  

I got into the habit of using DC with it's accompanying $.55 fee because I also request a lot of books and want to be sure to have credits readily available instead of waiting until books were marked received. In addition, by using PBS printable postage you don't have to go to the post office for postage and mailing, nor have to pay for the service elsewhere through PayPal or some other service. For me, the convenience of using PBS printable postage continues to be a plus because I can print wrappers and mail easily and quickly. Plus, trade credit is applied as soon as books are marked mailed.  Getting instant credit is my primary motivation for using printable postage, followed by convenience.



Last Edited on: 3/24/14 7:15 AM ET - Total times edited: 1