How long does it usually take for a book to get to its destination by first class mail ?

Usually less than week.

The reason I am asking is I mailed a book first class on Sept. 21 and it has'nt been marked received yet.

it should take less than 5 days but there is always the possibility that it went lost.

Usually less than 8 business days, in my experience. Sometimes a lot less, depending on how quickly it's picked up from the mailbox and how fast the sorting goes.

I would pm the person you sent it to. I've had people forget to mark recieved. Of course, sometimes the post office loses it.

Oh gee - I wouldn't PM anyone that soon!  Maybe the person was just out of town for a few days??  It's not like the book is lost yet!   Maybe the mail happens to be slow that week!  Give it some time before worrying.

Usually just a few days, but one book that was sent first class took over two weeks to show up. (I know exactly when it was sent because of the printed-by-PO-employee postage.) I wouldn't start PMing yet.

The only book I've sent that came close to going lost was sent via first class.  It arrived one day before the "lost" date.

So far I haven't had a firs class book take longer than two weeks, usually three or four days, even across country.

I'm having concerns about books sent first class as well. Is the po treating them as media mail because of the printed paperbackswap label? A book going less than 100 miles shouldn't be taking over a week to arrive which is what I'm finding. I'll have to experiment with a handwritten label next time.

I've never had problems sending first class. As long as the PO either stamps it, or is printed on the label already it will travel first class. Each class is sorted so it is mailed with what was requested.

Mary,

I can't speak to the packages taking longer to arrive because of the PBS label but I can say I have noticed it often DOES take longer to go 100 miles than it does to go across the country. I mail nationally and internationally at Christmas time - Georgia, Michigan, Canada and England and I swear it usually arrives in this order.... Canada, England, Michigan and Georgia. I'm in Florida. The closer destinations often travel overland as opposed to air and small towns often take longer too.

If you are worried about the "Media Mail" label on the PBS and you want to mail it First Class just do what I did today and cross through the Media Mail with a marker.

If the PBS label is marked Media Mail, the book will most likely travel that way even if you put first class postage on it.  I always cut the media mail portion off if I am going to send it first class.

Even Media Mail has been very speedy lately. 3 of the 5 books I mailed on Tuesday were marked received on Friday, and one more was received on Saturday (today). Two of those traveled all the way across the country. Two had printable postage, two had stamps. So it seems to me that Media Mail is getting First Class treatment.

The ones with printable postage and DC even got scanned "en route San Diego" for the first time ever. Of course that would start happening as soon as PBS starts giving instant credit and I don't need the local scan any more!

I had an experience same as Kristen's - 4 weeks via First Class. Packages do go astray, and then become low priority items for "resolution" later.