I mailed about 300 books and had only one Lost in Mail.  (A guy who was later suspended.)

I've now had three in the last 70.  Two were sent First Class.  I've not used DC but I was thinking about it now.

Has anyone else seen an increase for Lost in Mail?  Or is this perhaps a fluke.

I have seen no increase. Haven't had a book go lost, either coming or going, in more than a year. And I send and order a lot.

It's probably just a fluke.

Here's my observation: Before switching to using e-DC on everything I send out (2009 or so), I had seven shipments that were "Lost in the Mail". Since then, two. Inbound to me, I have had six packages "Lost in the Mail" since joining PBS in 2007; according to my Transaction Archive, none had e-DC on the labels. I'm not sure that 15 packages is enough of a sampling to draw any real conclusions. But, my postmaster seems to think that if we presume that PBS members are a pretty honest lot, the addition of a bar-code that needs to be scanned every time the package is handled might make that package less likely to be misplaced or otherwise waylaid. Not sure if that logic is true, or not. It does make some sense, but since the mail is mostly handled by machines, I'm not entirely sure.

Did you get the credit back from the one that was from the suspended person?

I've been here a long time.  I've mailed quite a few books and never used any type of tracking.   I've had two books get lost.

Of ALL the books mailed to me, I've had three get lost.  I haven't had even one in the last 18 months.

So no - I haven't seen more lost in the mail lately.

Nope. 

I've been a member for four years.  Haven't had any go lost that I mailed, 2 go lost that were mailed to me in the very distant past (that I suspect were never mailed). 

I've received over 400 books and had only one Lost in Mail.  But, I think something else was up with that book.  The sender PM'd a cryptic e-mail, she was indirectly saying she thought the 'mailed' book was likely going to be lost.  

wildsmith.....Did you get the credit back from the one that was from the suspended person?

No, I just wrote it off to bad luck.

I have one book in transit now.  It is been over 2 weeks for that one, I'm starting to wonder about them now.

The only one I've had go lost in almost 4 years of mailing out books was a bestseller WL book  I sent to someone  during Christmas season who lived only 2 hours from me. I've only bought DC for maybe half a dozen packages of the hundreds I've mailed out. 

I must have jinxed myself when I posted a couple of weeks back that I haven't had any go lost!  In the past month or so three shipments of books that I have ordered have gone Lost in the Mail.

I had one package go lost that I sort of suspect the sender never sent since I PM'd them twice and never heard back and now their account shows on hold.

I had another single book go lost that was marked mailed right at the last minute.  I didn't send a PM about it and didn't get one from them, so I don't know.

Then I just had a package of two books which the sender PM'd me about last week that finally went lost a couple of days ago.

Our new mailman keeps stuffing our mailbox as full as he can possibly get it so that he doesn't have to carry them up to our door.  He has even been using the slot for newspapers.  I'm feeling very suspicious about the last package of lost books and I keep wondering if one my neighbors are sitting in their house enjoying my books. 

Since I joined PBS in April 2006, none of the books I've mailed out have gone lost.  Of books I've requested, 18 have gone lost in the  mail, but  none since October 2010.

I've been a member since 2009, have mailed out over 1300, and received almost 1200 books.  I've had 21 books that I ordered and were lost in the mail; 5 of those were in one package.   In December 2012, I marked 3 books as lost in the mail, and have not received them.  I had one that I didn't get last month. If I remember how to do percentages in my old age, that's 1.75% lost in getting to me.   I think that one or two that I've mailed have been lost in the mail.  I am also a boxer, and had one small box that went missing in December 2012.  I do think that December 2012 was a very bad month for receiving ordered books. 

I've only had one that I sent go lost (it was going to Alaska, and it eventually showed up.  I think the system here has since changed to allow more time for books going outside of CONUS).  I've had several coming to me that have gone lost -- spme eventually showed up (usually with a tardy postmark) but some went truly lost.  

Don't think there have been any more recently, though.  However, I always sent using DC (using PBS printable postage), and there have been a lot of books lately that show as delivered, but aren't marked by the receiver as received until 2-3 weeks later.  I don't know if I am on a rash of sending to members (1) who are traveling, (2) have postal carriers who mark packages as delivered well before they are delivered, or (what I suspect) (3) who are tardy about logging in to mark books as received.  

 I don't know if I am on a rash of sending to members (1) who are traveling, (2) have postal carriers who mark packages as delivered well before they are delivered, or (what I suspect) (3) who are tardy about logging in to mark books as received.

Well .... I'm sometimes a late marker and I can tell you, I've been PM'd about books while I've been on vacation or traveling for work (which I do frequently) and another time, the PO scanned a book as delivered to me which actually arrived in my box 16 days later.

So, I've marked received late because of #1 (more than once) and also a memorable #2. Never a #3.

Most books I mark received within a day or 2 of getting them.

But other stuff happens more than you might think.

It's definitely been increasing for me!

I've been a member for a couple years now & I stopped using the site for a while, but when I mailed books before, none of them were declared lost in the mail.

After only coming back about a month ago & mailing 17 books, SIX books were declared lost. Sadly, I don't do printable postage so no credits for me  just more out of pocket for me, I'm honestly debating on whether or not to start buying credits from other members. I've also considered getting tracking numbers for the packages, but I don't see how that would help when in all reality, it depends on the mailers to get the package to the correct destination. I've debated on testing it & if a book gets lost to document it as the USPS website says but to me, that's too much for just a couple dollars & a credit lol. 

- Sarah

"I don't see how that would help when in all reality, it depends on the mailers to get the package to the correct destination."

PBS-printed Tracking gives you Quick Credit when the barcode is scanned at the USPS. I only send books with Quick Credit, especially now that the problems with branches using POS seem to be resolving themselves.

Pattie- I have noticed this trend lately too. Especially in the past several months. In the past, I'd had a few books that took a while to get marked as received, and I've had a couple over the years that have ended up simply vanishing into the P.O. never-never land, both coming and going, even with DC.

Just in the past two months, I've had two multiple book shipments that took over two weeks to be marked as received after DC showed them as delivered, and at one time, I had as many as 5 books out, all showing as delivered by DC in different parts of the country, and none marked as received. Eventually they all got marked received, but it does make me wonder. I've never seen so many take so long to get marked before. I'm glad I've started using the printable postage with DC all the time now since they've reduced some of the fees, especially on those multiple book shipments. I even had one person (who took over two weeks to mark books as received) send me a PM when they were finally marked with, "Sorry I never marked these. I was just busy reading them."

At least when I use the printable postage with DC, I've already gotten my credits, so it doesn't matter and I won't PM the receiver. I'm just surprised to see so many like this. I understand that "life happens", and sometimes delays happen when checking in books. But I agree with you. It's not just you. I've noticed it much more lately too.

I am afraid that my order of 5 selections have gone missing.  The sender did not us DC.  I surely hope the package arrives b/c it means 10 credits for the sender.

My hubby used to work at the post office but retired 2 months ago.  He explained that it is taking longer to process mail b/c they are more shorthanded.  The existing staff has to work later to deliver the mail.  At some point, we all know something has to give.  If you want an example, look at Wal-Mart.  They have cut staff, paid less than people deserve, and have tried to make the existing staff do the work.  Now, shelves are empty, stock sits in the warehouse, hours are cut for workers, and more registers are self-check.  It all results in poor service, long lines, longer waits, and unhappy customers.

2 book orders lost in the mail this month (April): one mailed to me and one I mailed. Before that, I'd only had a couple incidents of lost mail for over a couple of years.

"I wish we could block people we don't want to swap with."

I have requested this as a new feature in the past. I have been told that it would not happen because, "it's not in the spirit of PBS".

Catherine--don't know how long you've waited for the book to be marked received--but do rememember that this is the time of year that lots of folks go on vacation.  Maybe the recipient of your book is away on vacation, so can't mark the book received until she returns home.  Hope your book gets marked received shortly!

Catherine, that's what I've been seeing more of also........lots of people getting my books quickly, just not marking them received.

I've actually seen a decrease, so probably just a fluke.  I guess it's possible there's some kind of problem at your local PO slowing things down.

Apparently my earlier post in this thread jinxed me.  A book I sent using PP shows as being delivered by USPS (several weeks ago) but the requestor said she has not received it.  I've asked her twice to send me her mailing address so I can open an investigation with USPS but she hasn't sent it to me (yet), even though I sent her a link to the PBS help file page that shows the sender should start the USPS investigation.