Hi everyone. In the past 2 months I've had 2 books I've ordered get lost in the mail and a 3rd that will be if not delievered in a few days. I was just wondering if anyone else has had more books disappearing through the mail than usual. Before this I've only had 1 book, I belleve, go missing.

Also, is it just me or is PBS moving the books not received to the transaction archive early? One of the books had until 7/8 to get here and nothing would happen until 7/9 but its already on my transaction archive.

Thanks!

I haven't noticed any more losses than usual--which have always been minimal. I had one I sent go lost in May--it had DC and was scanned as delivered, but never actually showed up at the recipient's door, though we both contacted our respective PO to see if they could track it down, it was to no avail.

Before that, I had one book go lost in 2009, and 3 in 2008...but I send (and receive) a lot of books, so that is really a miniscule amount.

PBS has always marked books lost a day or two before the actual "system action date" and I'm not sure why. Sometimes it just depends on when the book was marked mailed--what time of day. PBS system does all those cancellations and marking lost things in the middle of the night, so it sometimes seems sooner (or later) that it ought to be by your own calculations.

Cheryl

I had one coming to be get marked as lost today although the system said it'd be 7/9. The book was sent with DC and made it to a sorting center 90 minutes away from me 6/14. Normally I'd get it the next day but it just disappeared. I did contact USPS to do a search on it last month but haven't heard from the Post Office.

I don't know, but after over 3 years here and more than 300 books sent, I have what looks like my first sent book about to go lost.  I mailed it on 6/14 and it was only going 2 states away so I would think should have been there by now.  I'm waiting a couple more days to PM the requester, hoping that she's just been on vacation  or something...but for some reason, I have a bad feeling about this.

Well I had 2 books coming to me go lost this year. This is my third year and first time any have gone lost. So technically, yes, but I don't think it's becoming a huge problem or anything.

If you're experiencing a lot of lost books, I've heard you should look into your own PO. There could be a postal worker with sticky fingers or something.

I had one coming to me go lost in the system today and two more (also coming to me) will go lost either today or tomorrow. Very unusual.

I've only been a member a little over a month but I've already had three books go lost. My mother was a member here when PBS first started & she said she never had a book go lost  & it's really hitting my suspicion meter. I'm not saying there is foul play involved but when three books go lost in a row I find myself  becoming more cautious about sending out books in the future. I've decided to buy credits & order books for the moment. I'm not saying I won't post books in the future but I joined this website because my budget makes it harder for me to buy books & it's costing me more money to pay for postage/wrapping for books that never get marked received then it is to just buy credits to order the books I want. I understand that some books just go lost & there is no foul play involved but having three books go lost my first fews weeks as a member here is more than I or my wallet can take right now.

Welcome to PBS!  i'm so sorry this has happened to you.  I completely understand the budget problem.  I bought credits for books here, too.  And it's quite okay to do so.  I finally started buying them from a member rather than from PBS.  Much cheaper.

You might want to contact your PO about this since the only thing I can think of that might cause this is not using enough packing tape on a package.  And your PO needs to know that mail is going missing.

I hope you stick with PBS.  It's a great place to be.

Ruth

Lesley wrote: I don't know, but after over 3 years here and more than 300 books sent, I have what looks like my first sent book about to go lost.

I had my first lost book of any transaction (this one is to me) at the end of last month. Seems like a pattern - could media mail from all over the system be sitting in some unit somewhere awaiting a mass inspection???

I have had 2 books from me go lost in the past 6  weeks. One was mailed Media Mail and was received about 2 weeks after it went lost. The other was mailed First Class within my state, and it still hasn't arrived. I know Texas is big, but come on!

Thank you very much, Ruth F! I've already contacted the PO & they said they couldn't do anything until the 23rd of this month so I will call them back then to see if they can figure out what happened. I don't think I'm quite ready to give up on PBS yet but it worries me how many books are starting to go lost on my part & others who've mentioned the same thing happening lately.

BTW, I'll definitely look into buying credits from other members especially if they are cheaper & if I not, I have no problem paying the $3.50 for credits. It's definitely cheaper then buying new mmpb's at $6.99-7.99 or trade pb's at $12.00 +.

Well the mail came and went and still no book. The one that will be marked lost soon has DC but nothing has been scanned since it was entered into the system. I'm going to try calling that post office tomorrow to see if the book is still there.  The other 2 books had no DC. I don't think anyone is stealing them at my PO because I have received other books in the past 2 months no problem.

I don't think all these books are stolen either. If I were paranoid, I'd swear the postal system was punishing the users in some passive-aggressive way because Media Mail rate is a money loser, but they aren't allowed to drop it! In other words, some sort of long-term "hold" -- even if space is available to ship out the books. Almost seems that way ....

Tracy - A lot of books that get 'lost' in the mail at PBS are actually books that are never sent. Meaning, a person marks the book mailed but never mails the book (yes, it happens a lot more often than you think.) So whenever a book is about to go lost, the best thing to do is to politely ask the sender when they sent it.

I know it may seem as if lost books are happening more and more because you see a lot of posts about it but just know that most members post something in this forum when they have a problem. :) You seldom see posts of 'I had a great transaction!' (although we've have a few of those now and then.:)

A while back we made some informal calculations as to the 'lost' rate of books sent - members would post how many books they sent and how many went lost - and it was around 1% for most people which is not too bad.

Amaryllis - I'd recommend you use PBS DC for your books if you are wary of mailing more. It's only $0.27 and you'll get your credit as soon as the book is scanned by the Post Office and you'll get your credit even if the book goes lost.

I will shoot the 2 people PMs about it tomorrow then. I just thought it was odd that I'd go a year without having a book get lost then I have 2, possibly 3 get lost in a 2 month time span. It just seemed like too high of a number in such a short time span.

I'm having the same problem... In just this year..  I dont know whats going on. I'm thinking about getting D.C for all my books. I may still have some go lost but al least I can track them.

I've noticed recently more books gone lost or damaged by the postal service. I use DC on all my outgoing mail and it just gets stuck somewhere. I have done the form (can't remember the name at the moment) to try to locate them with no success. There doesn't seem to be any kind of logic to it. I've had one book go lost that was in a box and lots of bubble wrap, along with addresses inside the box, and bubble mailers go lost too. I use tons of tape so that's not causing issues according to PO.  Then there's been a couple to me go lost without DC and both claims to have mailed them but with no DC there's no proof or idea of where the problem may have happened.

And ZERO missing books before that.  ( I have been member since  April 2009)

 One book never arrived in mid April this year,  one book never got to me in mid May,  2 books sent by same person

went missing June 12th this year, and another one never showed up last week.

In all cases I emailed the sender a few days before PBS action, they seemed to appreciate knowing the disappearance.

In 2 cases, these were  DC books, DC showed they were sent, nothing after that.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm.

Something happened to me that made me think of this thread. :)

I requested a book a few weeks ago which was promptly accepted and marked mailed within a day. I'm not the type to constantly check how long a book is taking but it dawned on me after more than 2 weeks that I haven't gotten the book - in general, books from Florida to NY arrive in three or four days even when they are Media Mail. More time passes, I get the 'did you receive this book email?' and I'm thinking that the book is lost.

Yesterday I get the book and as I inspected the postmark, I see that it was mailed this past Tuesday, more than 2 weeks later than it was marked mailed. Sometimes I forget to fill out the information regarding the postmark but I made sure to do it this time so the person gets a reminder not to mail so late.

Bottom line is: most of the "lost" books are caused by people not mailing or mailing later than they say!

I had a book I mailed go lost. I use DC and mailed it at my local Post Office.  It was never received and went lost. A few days ago I got a pm saying that it arrived (yea)  and then I got an automated email stating that the mail date was 7/2, but I actually mailed it 5/20. What would cause that to occur? Perhaps lost in the Post Office? Just curious...

Denise

My first ever lost books happened recently.  It was 4 books, all WL, sent together with DC.  The DC gives 2 updates - 1 to say they recieved it and another along the way. 

I'm not too happy I didn't get the books but I also feel sorry for the member who is out 4 books/credits on just one transaction.

And BTW my PBS account got suspended when it happened - guess this is automatic.

I've had 2 books go lost on their way to me this month and I chalk it up to the weather the country has been experiencing. They were coming from areas that had experienced flooding so I figure that's what's happened to them. No fault of anyone, really.

Prior to this, maybe 3 others go missing in the 4 1/2 years that I've been a member. A couple of those I just chalked up to the fact that they probably were never mailed in the first place.

My first lost book did arrive a couple of days ago, and yes the sender had mailed it a few days after the system date; however, it still took over 4 weeks to get here (would've gone lost anyway).

Hopefully the sender used PBS DC in that transaction Judith. If that's the case, they would have gotten their credits when the books were first scanned.

Yes, bad weather also affects the mail delivery as you can imagine. 3 books I've sent have been lost, all around the holidays/winter.

Bottom line is: most of the "lost" books are caused by people not mailing or mailing later than they say!

Sad to say, I think this is v. true.  Having said that, *I* was on the sending end of a book that I mailed to TX with  USPS DC, and it never ended up going to the recipient and was never sent back to me, despite the fact that it showed as being scanned in the member's town and reportedly a notice was left.  The other member never got a notice and the P.O. there could not tell me why it scanned as having been delivered when it wasn't, why it was noted that a notice was left but none was, where the book was since it wasn't returned to me or delivered to the addressee, and when I asked if the carrier had been questioned, they lied to me and said he was not available (the carrier for that route is a female, per the other member).  So, though I think it's rare, there are occasions when books have legitimately been mailed and the P.O. simply screws the pooch and loses them.