I have two books that I mailed out that haven't arrived yet (or the receiver hasn't marked it yet).  One was sent out on the 10th of November and sent FIRST CLASS from Missouri to Texas.  The second was sent out on the 14th and sent FIRST CLASS from Missouri to Maryland.  I know Media mail can take a while, but is first class taking two weeks now?  I would like to know if the books have gone missing or if they've just forgotten to mark them received.  Once again, these were mailed First Class not Media Mail!

I had a first class book that took almost 2 weeks.  It may have been put on a truck going in a different direction and it had to reverse itself.   Maybe the person travels and isn't home to mark it received, they are hospitalized.  I actually had one that was away at college.  Her mom usually opens the books and would let her know what was received etc.  However, she was coming home to visit mom on college break and Mom put them on the side so she could open them herself, well Mom forgot about them - so it wasn't marked mailed until almost the time it was about to go lost. 

Without DC it is a waiting game.   I would PM them close to the time it is about to be marked lost, let them know you would like to contact USPS if they haven't received their book.  I hate waiting - patience is not one of my strenghths.

I had a 1st class book take 3 wks to go from MD to CT which is only about 9 hrs from here.  The same week I mailed a book to another site to France and it arrived in 3 days and one media mail cross country that arrived within a week.  You just never know. If they accidentally send it in the wrong direction it could take time to get to the right place.  Then sometimes you time it just right and the media mail box gets delivered quickly.

One time a game book someone was sendign me took nearly a month to get here.  They only lived about 6hrs from me.  The post office sent the book from PA to WA and then to MD.  I remember because I used to live in the area in WA where they sent the book-I freaked thinking the gamer had used an old address of mine. 

I really do think that the holiday slow-down has started, at least in Alaska. I had five books mailed media mail on the 10th with DC, and they haven't even made it to sorting in Washington yet. Normally, they would have been delivered at the three week point, but I don't see that happening this time, unless they move REALLY quickly after getting to Washington.

I'm not requesting any books now, so I don't know for sure if the speed to here has been affected.

I've been having an entirely different experience. I had books that were mailed from PA on Saturday arrive here in MI in my mailbox today. :) Can't beat that! It's practically overnight!

Its a total crapshoot.

I just received a Media Mail box from an APO address ... in under a week. That's really fast, I wasn't expecting them for another 3 weeks!

I also received a first class book ... the next day.

I also had some Media Mail paperbacks take 3 weeks to get to me.

All this month! There really is just no guessing which books will take a long time and which ones will be super fast.

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it lately. I've had first class take over a week, 4 days for first class to go 10 miles, and a media mail box from FL to NY get there in two days. I had one come from CA that stayed in the sort facility out there for over a week, but once it left, it was here in 2 days. This week, my packages to NY have all been going to MO first...a tad bit out of the way, so who knows? I've also had some people be very slow in marking them received - things get busier this time of year and I'm sure it's low priority for them.

I don't know, but I had reason to go into my post office yesterday (just to drop some packages in the receptacle) and the line went all the way around to the door--still before Thanksgiving and the rush is already starting!  I was glad I didn't need to go to the counter for anything.

I sent a package media mail with 3 books in it and it took 1 day to go from MD to VA.  I mailed on Mon around noontime and the books were marked received on Tues. this was last week

I have two Media Mail books that I am waiting on to be delivered.  Both mailed on 11/10 also from St Louis, one to Nebraska & another to New York City.  I also mailed 3 books on 11/19, the first class was delivered 11/21--2 days.  Other 2 are Media Mail & waiting on them also.  For a while there it seemed most were delivered in week to 10 days, now it is slowing up. 

Since I haven't been at PBS for a year yet does it slow up with all of the Christmas cards & everything else being mailed around this time of year?

It gets both slower and faster.  There are more mail trucks out there moving.  But media mail gets the lowest priority.  If there is space, it goes.  So some books fly across the country.  But there is more mail traffic and weather.  So some slow way down.  At this time of year, I've had first class that goes slow.  And media mail that makes it cross country in under three days.