On Sunday (five days ago), I requested a book that had ten copies in the system. Before I confirmed my order, the system showed me a message saying something like, "Someone who has this book listed lives within 200 miles of you! If you sign up as a Gold Key member now, you could benefit from Directed Delivery and get your copy from that person, to increase the speed at which you'll get the book and save fossil fuels in its transport!"

I thought that the system must be hinting that the FIFO owner lived halfway across the country or even farther, but I still decided not to buy Gold Key at this time.  Well, the owner of the FIFO book lives in my state, about 90 miles away from me. She accepted my request the same day and mailed the book on Monday morning. Today (Friday), I opened a bubble mailer to find a pristine hardcover book with only a remainder mark to show it wasn't fresh from the publisher. 

I wanted to post this here so other people can know: the appearance of the message I described doesn't necessarily mean that the FIFO owner is more than 200 miles away. I wonder if the system would have a means to incorporate "The owner of the FIFO-posted book lives X miles away from you" into that Gold Key mid-order reminder.

It was probably the same member they would have directed it to if you'd had the Gold Key.  They just happened to also be at the head of the line.

The within 200 miles thing is probably a standard message. It might be too much programming to do variying numbers. 

I haven't ordered a book from FIFO yet so I haven't see it offer me any locations. 

So far only 1 WL book that I've posted to FIFO has popped up as on a friends WL. And she had forgotten to delete it when she broke down and bought it herself.

Ah, so people without the Gold Key get those messages? I thought it was just Gold Key people who got them...but I suppose, if they are trying to sell the Gold Key they would try to make the benefit known to those without it. I haven't gotten one of those messages yet because I so rarely order books out of the system these days (my WL does my PBS shopping)...and to be honest I don't think I would jump on such an offer anyway, as I don't see any noticeable difference in delivery time regardless of where the sender is--unless it's AK or HI of course. In fact, some of the longest times for books to get to me have been people sending books from my own state.

Cheryl

There's really no incentive for the Team to tell us how far away the FIFO person is. The GK is a service that brings the site extra revenue so it makes sense that they would promote it anyway they can.

With a book with only 10 copies in the system, it stands to reason that as Mary said, the person they are talking about was probably the same one that ended up sending you the book. Most likely the algorithm they use to determine whether a person who's offering the book is within 200 miles of you doesn't take into account whether that person is first in line (I don't know how difficult that could be to set up) or if it takes it into account, it could be that there were several people within 200 miles of you in the FIFO line. If you live in a populated area, 200 square miles can include A LOT of members.

Directed Delivery is the one benefit of Gold Key membership that, from the beginning, I thought was of questionable value -- and probably not worth bypassing the principle of FIFO. This thread seems to reinforce that perspective.

The same thing happened to me a few weeks ago, haha!  I have 120 books in my TBR pile, so I'm in no rush for any particular book so I don't really care where it comes from.

Received a book request this AM which I suspect may be from a Gold Key member.  The bookhas been on my bookshelf for quite awhile and is standard reading in college lit classes (PBS for DD), and I'm mailing to a college student in nearby town.  Can I tell if she is a Gold Key member vs. my book being next FIFO?  All too often it seems I'm mailing FIFO books way far away, and then the one this morning that is basically local...Now I'm curious, and really tempted to pm and ask the requester. 

Regardless, she requested the book early this morning, I'm mailing today, and she should have it by tomorrow afternoon.  If she's GK, it worked great for her.  Basically 48 hours to receive a good quality book she needs for class!

FYI, I've posted a bunch of wishlisted books to friends via GK.   Only about 1/2 tho, as not all WL books I posted were on the wishlist of any of my 'friends'.  My favorite beni so far is when I can post several to a friend (much, much easier w/GKK) and save shipping...done 3 or 4 of those so far!  On that alone, my membership has almost paid for itself already.

I am not a GK member myself but I have twice received books from a couple of my book friends on this site who listed a book that was on my WL. I was under the impression that the system advised them that one of their buddies had the book on their WL and they were then able to post directly to me. I thought it was great! I benefited even though I was not a member.

Marilyn - Yes, GK members are able to post to friends' WL.

Denise: Can I tell if she is a Gold Key member vs. my book being next FIFO?

Yes, after you've accepted, click on her name.  Look for the gold key button.  That doesn't rule out that you were first in the FIFO line, but if there are lots of copies posted, the fact that she lives so close makes it a good chance that she got you through gold key.