I think I have gotten them twice.  The first about two weeks later (after marked mailed) then again at three weeks.  The fourth week I think they send you the "sorry looks like its lost" email.  Not sure about the last one as this has only happened to be once before.  Sorry about not getting yoru four books.  :(

Thanks for the info! I've never had a book I ordered go lost, I don't even know if one has taken long enough for me to get these emails before, so that is something ot be thankful for.

I feel bad for the sender, she's going to be out the credits and the books.

I just had some books that took over three weeks to get to me thats why I remember the two emails.  I had only one get lost but then it turned up about a week later.

Hopefully the sender just forgot to mail them or something and she won't be out the credits.

Unfortunately I doubt it, the large open bubble mailer that I got in my mailbox suggests otherwise. It was much bigger than the books themselves (even with four of them in there) and it wasn't taped down so it was tight around the books, so they must have slid around until the envilope just ripped. I'm still holding out some hope that she is out of town or something, and just hasn't gotten my message. I guess the sender is the only person who can report these things to the post office, so they can try and track down the lost materials.

There is a form that you can fill out to report it, so the post office knows to look.  I think either end can file it.  But you need to go to the PO to get the form.  (Not one of the listed online forms.)  It is a rifling report.

Actually, the help docs say that the sender needs to fill out the USPS forms for lost mail.

If the requestor confirms that the book was not received:

• As the sender, you should call 800-ASK-USPS or go to http://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MLNtRcvd.aspx (the Postal Inspection Service's website) and input the information online there . This will help USPS try to recover your book if it truly has been lost in the mail.
  • This form at USPS is titled "Mail Theft"
  • This does  not mean only theft of mail.  USPS categorizes any mail that does not arrive or that is tampered with as "mail theft".
  • The choice that should be made under "Class" if Media Mail was used is "Parcel Post"

Even though the responsibility lies with the sender to fill out the post office form, if it were me I'd do it also.  At this point you're not sure at which end of the travels these books fell out.  Since You rec'd the envelope....likely it was closer to your location.

Just recently, I rec'd a PM from a sender, same situation, but the empty envelope had been returned to her.  She filled out the form, and about 5 or 6 weeks later she was contacted by the PO that the book had been found!!!!

She was thrilled and so was I....it had been one of my WL books!!!!   So, IMO, always worth a shot filling out the paperwork....you just never know!!!!