I seem to be suffering lately from a plague of books that were marked mailed to me but that I never received - three books in the past five weeks. Is anyone else having this problem, or am I just in an unlucky streak?

Have you PMed the members to ask about the status of the books?

You are not alone Margaret.  Although more common in the summer (and around the holidays) when people are busy, this summer is setting records for me.  I've had an unusual number of books (supposedly mailed) go lost in the system.  Even ones with DC, but no enroute scans (I know this isn't totally accurate any more, but they did pay extra for the DC).    A handful missing in the last couple months, and yet another set to go lost in the next 48 hours.

Muy annoying b/c I've also been on a bit of a sending spree and 100% of my mailed books are arriving quickly and safely.  I'm not seeing forum posts by members mentioning the PO loosing their mailed books, so it doesn't appear USPS is experiencing major quality control issues just now.  So I can only assume sender error.  Frustrating to be off the waitlist for a month due to someone else being inconsiderate.

Jennifer, except for PBS members in Alaska or Hawaii (who are used to dealing with mail delays) the sending members do not seem to be answering polite inquiries.

It could be other members not mailing them. Could also be a problem with your post office. I would contact the other members just to enquire.

I've been OK all summer but had a bunch never arrive between JAN and April this year.

Thanks for all your helpful comments. As far as  I can tell, it's not a post office problem, as I've had several others that I requested in the same time period arrive promptly, Any suggestions for the polite phrasing of a PM about whether the books were actually mailed or not? At the moment my annoyed inclination would be something like 'Hey! Did you actually mail this book?!' although I realize that's not likely to get an answer, let alone a polite one. I can't see what the point would be in marking a PBS book mailed if you weren't going to send it., since this isn't like that other book-swap club where the sender gets the credit as soon as the request is marked as accepted.

Margaret--When this happens to me, I usually post something like the following:  "When looking at my account page, I noticed that xxxxx is about to be marked lost by the system.  Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten to mark the book received--it just hasn't gotten to me yet.  Also, wanted to assure you that if it does come in after the system marks it lost, I'll be sure and mark it received in my transaction archive so that you'll get your credit."

My thoughts are that if they haven't mailed the book, a PM like this will provide a reminder to do that without accusing htem of anything.  And if they did indeed mail the book, that I haven't just forgotten to mark it received.

Thanks, Laura. I'll try that.