Anyone else notice this?  If I buy DC for a media mail pkg, they seem to arrive in just 2-4 days as opposed to 7-12 days for the media mail I send without DC.

Also, is media mail moving faster now with the holiday season?  Everything seems to arriving quicker (except the one HC book I sent to CA which took 25 days to be marked received-- I think person just didn't mark it til she got msg from PBS saying "this is about to go lost". She also ignored a PM I sent apologizing for it taking soooo long and assuring her I did mail it when it was marked.)

I find that if you want an answer from a PM, you need to ask for one. Many people will just ignore an "info" PM to them.

I phrase it something like "Just wondering if you might have received this book blah blah blah. If not, I wanted to let you know it was mailed out on time, blah blah blah.  I would really appreciate if you could let me know either way, Thanks very much!"

I just sent a package WITH DC that took 9 days to be scanned for the first time. I have no idea why, I mailed it out on time. I'm sure the other member was wondering if I mailed it out at all.

I would give the other member the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes it just really takes that long to arrive. Most packages do arrive either late in the first week, or early in the second week after being mailed, but I've received enough packages with the correct postmark, just 3 weeks (or even close to 4 weeks) later to know that sometimes it really just takes that long.

Yes, I also believe that Media Mail with DC arrives faster than without. I'm sure it's not an official USPS position, but I see it on both books coming to me, and books I've sent. (and I order and mail a lot of books so I've seen enough packages to have a good sense of it).  I've been thinking that for about  6 months now.

In my case it seems to be the post office, not DC, that makes the difference.  If I mail from one, books get there in no time.  If I mail from another, it seems to take forever.

I received two books today, neither had DC.

*Book 1 , mailed 5th Dec, from FL to CA, via media mail

*Book 2, mailed 6th Dec, from TX to CA, via first class mail.

I have noticed media mail moving quickly the past few weeks, assuming inthe earlt runup to Christmas the PO has extra trucks running. and the media mial is not being delayed.

yep, that's what I was thinking Mistie.  Glad to see you're getting good service to CA-- that seems to be a "black hole" for me!  Whether sending to or coming from CA, my books take almost the "going lost soon" time!