I need some advice please.  I have been back n forth to the hospital with my elderly mom.  I asked a friend to send out 2 books for me and mark them sent .  Well,  I found both book packages on the back seat floor (in bubble mailers) , no postage but they marked them sent when they haven't been.  They did it before they were going to go to the postoffice.

Mom home and trying to get things caught up and found these.  Should I just go and get the postage and ship or cancel or something?  I've never had anything happen like this before....

I promise to never ask a friend to mail my books again....sigh

Suggestions please?

Thank you,

Debbie

I'd say the first order of business is to PM the recipients with what you've said here, and find out what they'd prefer.

Was she suppose to mail them yesterday?  If so, that is not that late.  Or, was it suppose to be over a week ago? 

Rick is right...PM the people and work it out.  My guess is that they will be happy that you contacted them and most likely will still want the books. 

Ditto what the others said.  If the books are light enough and it's not too much expense, I would try to send first class if they still want the books.

How long ago were they supposed to be mailed?  If it was just last week-then I'd upgrade them to 1st class and PM the members to let them know what happened.  If it's been more than a week-then I would PM the members first, explain what happened and ask if they want you to send them any, to let them go lost or ask PBS to cancel them for you. 

I ordered some books from a lady one time.  About 2 wks after they were marked mailed I get a PM from her explaining that she had just found these books in the trunk of her husbands car.  He had told her had mailed books for her and then put them in the trunk of his car.  She asked me to mark them received before they went lost and I refused to do that.  They arrived about a week after they went late.  So stuff happens. 

I ordered some books from a lady one time.  About 2 wks after they were marked mailed I get a PM from her explaining that she had just found these books in the trunk of her husbands car.

This is the reason why I PM senders after a reasonable time to ask if the books actually got in the mail.  I once found a library book under my car seat.  It was a library book that I paid for months before because it had been lost.  I always make a habit of checking my car thoroughly if I can't find a library book or if something I have sent out seems to be taking a long time getting to the recipient.  I send all my single books First Class and keep an eye on their progress through my PayPal account's DC.

Debbie - I actually had this same kinda thing happen to me because my daughter ended up in the hospital.  I PM'ed all the requesters and asked them if they still wanted the books or not, and gave them an idea when I would be able to mail the books.  When I got confirmation from them, I paid for the small difference to send all of them first class to make sure they got to the requestors faster than waiting for media mail.

I have to say, though, if everyone that I mailed a book to PM'ed me to ask me if the book was really in the mail after I marked it mailed, I would probably get a little annoyed.  Things happen to people sometimes, and I was lucky enough that when it happened to me everyone was very understanding.  I'm sure it will be the same for you,

I have only twice PM'd people asking if the book really got mailed because all the other books arrived within an reasonable time period.  That's because most of the people on this site who have sent me single books send them First Class.  I only send a PM if I can watch the progress of a book and it looks like it never made it to the post office since the only scan is the one about the PO receiving notificaction.  It had been 11 days since that scan, and amazingly, the book was scanned into the PO two days later.  That was either a huge coincidence or the sender did find that they had not really sent the book.  I certainly would not hold it against the sender if they had neglected to send the book since I have had a similar experience (losing a library book under the seat of my car) myself.

I certainly don't advocate sending a PM everyone you are waiting for a book from.  But, if it has been an inordinately long time, I see no reason why we shouldn't PM the sender just to check and make sure the book was actually sent.  BTW, I didn't PM the sender until after I got my second email from PBS asking me if I had received the book yet.

A few months ago, I wrapped up, addressed and marked my books mailed.  Headed off to the post office, got rear-ended by someone doing at least 45 at a stoplight.  Spent the night in the ER, the next week at a chiropractors office every day, etc. 

A week or two later, I was still in the rental car when I got a PM asking if I had mailed the book yet.  I was SO embarrassed!  I had actually had FIVE books to mail out that day!  I PMd all the members, explained it to them, got all 5 to give me the "go ahead" and went to the auto repair shop to get my books.  Luckily, they were all undamaged.  I went to the post office that night and used the late night ATM type mailbox.  I had already promised to pay for priority and boy did I regret that!  One book cost me 7$ to mail!!  It would've been cheaper to paypal her the money to go buy the book new at WalMart!  Luckily, they all arrived a week later and everyone was happy (I assume!!).  So, I would definitely PM them and make sure they still want the books.  If the books are late enough to become "lost" and they re-request them from someone else, it would be perfectly in their right to not give you a credit for them. 

(I also had a request recently where I mailed it a day or two after I accepted the request then I got that "this is your last chance to mail the book" email and I realized I had never marked it mailed.  (I promised myself last time to never mark them mailed until they ARE mailed!).  So I went and marked it mailed of course.  Well 3 days later I got a PM from a member asking me if I had really mailed the book or not.  Why The Face?  I HAD mailed it like 5 days prior and I HAD marked it mailed.  WHen I responded asking her if her transaction archive didn't show it as mailed she replied that it did, but since I waited till the last minute she wanted to know if I really had. )

Sorry - what I posted did not add to the conversation in a meaningful way, so I deleted it.

I actually just did the same thing this week.  I've been having some personal issues that have put my life into some chaos.  I really, really thought I had mailed a book - then I found it on a shelf 5 days later.  I PM'd the recipient and mailed it out 1st class.  They never responded to my apologetic PM, so i hope everything is okay.  The book is nowhere near going lost, though.

Hope your mom is feeling better Debbie.

IIRC, PBS guidelines state that if you are mailing more than 2 days late you must pm the receiver.  If it's within two weeks, I would inform the receiver of the actual sending date and upgrade to First Class if possible.  If mailing more than 2 weeks late, I would wait for permission before sending.

Hope your mom is better!

Thanks Everyone,

It's been about 7 days.... I wish they had been in my car, I found them in hers lol....

It's nice to know I'm not alone with having this happen... I feel so guilty and embarressed. I like getting my books out asap since that's the way I like to get them lol....

Mom is doing better, thank you for asking.  It looks like I need to learn how to be a caregiver.  I do live with mom and help her, but she's now starting a little bit into dementia and I want to make sure I do the best I can to help her. 

I did pm the 2 people involved and waiting to hear back from them.  I'll respond back here when I hear from them, I hope they are understanding...

Thank you all for helping me to feel a little better,

Debbie

Debbie,

Don't worry TOO much about it.  If they aren't understanding and they have decided to get the books from someone else, just repost the books and learn from it.  Everyone makes mistakes.