I'm HAPPY to send to APO/FPO addresses and have never refused one of them.  However, both parties know up front that chances are, the book will *not* arrive before the deadline, and that it will be marked as *lost*.  I already know that once the other party receives their end, that will change and I'll get my credit, but I find it frustrating on my end and I know that the wonderful military folks who patiently await their mail hate getting rejections due to their address!

Actually the odds are better than 50-50 that the book will arrive by the deadline, even if sent overseas. Go to the Pulse of PBS page and scroll all the way to the bottom. Put in your state on the from side and then select AP, AE and AA on the other side. If the averages you see are less than 26 days, then it's more likely than not that your books will arrive within the deadline. When I do this for my state, I get 16, 17 and 22 days. (These are averages, not medians, but I'm assuming a normal distribution here.)

There are probably some members who are located way out in the boonies and never get a book on time, but there must be a lot who do get them quickly or the numbers wouldn't be as low as they are.

I agree with Cathy - I think a lot of the time, medial mail gets there in time anyway.  Now for anyone who prefers to try and get it there sooner, they can mail first class!  For MMPB shipments, it probably wouldn't really cost that much more.

I've sent some shipments overseas, and I've actually been pleasantly surprised at how fast they've gotten there!

The averages include first class.  The best way for senders in the U.S. to get their credit is to use PBS site DC--I believe the credit kicks in as soon as the book is delivered to the processing center in the U.S.  We're used to waiting, so it's hardly an exclusive to PBS problem here!!  :)

FWIW, my family is currently on our 8th year overseas (back to back tours in the Pacific and European theaters).  In all that time, I've built up a fair estimation of average mailing times from the U.S.  :)  First Class or Priority typically takes approximately 7 days (earliest I ever received one was 5 days from mailing, rarely longer than 9 or 10 days).  Media mail is low priority so more erratic, but the average seems to be about 4 weeks, right along the edge of the time-out date at PBS.  A few times I've been shocked to receive a media mail package in 2 weeks (14-16 days, my record shortest time in 8 years), but it's more common for them to take 5-6 weeks... again, low priority; if there is extra space on the plane they may throw some in, otherwise it waits or goes by ship.