there is a 2 day grace period attached, so the person has until the 20th to mark the book mailed. 

Oh, I learned something new - 2 day grace period

April: Your book may have been cancelled already.  Check your Transaction Archive.

From the Help Center:  A book must be marked "mailed" by the 7th day or it will be cancelled.

PBS is dedicated to the concept of timely swapping. While of course we understand that unexpected circumstances can delay an occasional shipment, chronic late mailing is not acceptable.   The longest timeframe for sending a book (from acceptance to marking mailed) is 7 days. 

• If you are away from your home and cannot send out books within this timeframe, your account should be on Hold to prevent incoming requests.

• If you have accepted a request but know you will not be able to mail a book within 2 days of when you said you would mail it, you should ask the requestor's consent to mail the book late. 

  • You can contact the requestor by clicking the button on the request for the book on your My Account page--it will be on the Books to Mail tab after you accept it, and before you have marked it mailed.

• If you accepted a request and something comes up unexpectedly, contact the sender to let him or her know that mailing was delayed, as soon as you have mailed the book. Most requestors don't mind a little delay, as long as they are kept informed of the situation. 

• If you do arrange late mailing with a requestor, you should mark the book mailed before the deadline to prevent the transaction from being canceled.

   

   

Are you sure you have the correct dates because usually the "will be mailed by" drop down box won't allow you to go beyond several days (see the above post).  There is no option for a sender to have nine days.

So I'm wondering too if the original transaction was already cancelled and it's already been picked up again by another sender. Like the other poster said, check your transaction archive and you'll see a big red "X" next to the book if it's been cancelled by either you or the sender.

Oh! I've had that happen once so far. Took ALL the time to click the "accepted" button. Then clicked the LAST possible time to mail it. Then took the extra "grace" period before clicking mailed and then never got the book! I had a feeling .... I PM'd the person the day it before it took system action and another time afterwards .... and heard nothing.

So now if someone takes their time to accept and then takes their time to send I get leery! I don't mind clicking the last date to mail because not everyone lives at the post office. I don't mind if someone takes the full five days to accept the book but forever more, IF they take their time on BOTH, it will be a red flag for me.

But I'm still addicted to this site! (I just noticed we joined within 1 day of each other!)

I about got my head bit off on another thread for mentioning that waiting too long bothered me, but several members deliberately do take the full 5 days to accept, then take the full 7 days to mail - giving themselves 12 days to get a book in the mail.  I'm really leery of this and am starting to cancel orders if they don't accept by about day 3, since you just don't known when/if you'll get the book. 

I'm happy to say that most of the ones I ship arrive before 12 days have elapsed.  It drives me crazy if they're hanging out there too long, either on thier way to or from me!  It has nothing to do with my TBR pile, and everything to do with having unfinished business laying around!

This makes me nuts too.  We should have the option to cancel if the book isn't marked shipped.

I have started doing that also... cancelling orders that are taking too long. I try my best to get my books out immediately....

There have been a couple of times when the book actually NEVER even came....

It seems to me the longer I wait for them to mail it, the less likely I am to ever receive the book./ I so appreciate the majority of people who mail it out in a timely manner. AND the few that have been so wonderful to let me know it will be delayed, why and then I actually receive the book.

Thankfully, the majority of PBS people are wonderful and this doesnt make me down on this wonderful site!

April-- How frustrating!

You say sender #1 used DC-- can you tell if it was actually scanned by the Post Office? (I.e., can you see the DC "Details" and is there more than a "Electronic Shipping Info Received" entry?) If so, the book really is in the mail and it's probably safe to cancel the request to sender #2.

Otherwise, I'd sit tight and wait for sender #2 to mail you the book (especially if sender #1 doesn't bother to reply to your PM). The credit will go to sender #2 when you mark the book received from your main account page. (If you're feeling generous and you get two copies of the book, you can give sender #1 a credit from the Transactions page-- but you have no obligation to do so. See the Help Center for a better explanation...)

Gah-- double post. Need more coffee this morning...

Please realize that some of us take longer, because we usually are checking this site on weekdays and if there is a weekend in the time period, that will extend out the time it takes for a response.  I know this has happened to me.  I get especially frustrated when a book on my Wish List becomes available late Friday night after I've checked my emails for the last time, then is cancelled on Monday before email notification gets through and I never found out that it was available because I usually am able to check this site only on weekdays.  I've lost several books that way, and had to put them back on Wish List and get to the back of the line.  OOOOH, Frustrating.  I wish it was a little LONGER response time than the 48 hours to respond just because of the weekend thing, but I know I'm in the minority in this.  Most of the posts I read, the members want a SHORTER response time required.  I certainly hope THAT never occurs, or I'll NEVER get my WL books that come up during the weekend.

Maybe I should just put everything on AUTOREQUEST then I won't lose them.  The problem with this is that I am frequently buying new books, but I only update the WL once a week or so.  I don't want to take a book that another member wants that I already have gotten but haven't yet removed from WL.

"...several members deliberately do take the full 5 days to accept, then take the full 7 days to mail - giving themselves 12 days to get a book in the mail.  I'm really leery of this and am starting to cancel orders if they don't accept by about day 3, since you just don't known when/if you'll get the book. "

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I"m sorry, I'm not meaning to insult, but didn't you read the terms when you joined up? It seems like you are complaining about perfectly acceptable behavior. Cancelling a perfectly good transaction because you're impatient seems like a bigger problem to me - taking the full allotment of time to accept or mail is explicitly acceptable according to the rules!

I can understand being impatient, and can even comiserate - but (assuming books actually ARE accepted/mailed within the guidelines) these people aren't doing anything wrong! I'll point out that it's the same transaction at day 3 as it was at day 2 - you "just don't know" any more at either day - nothing has changed between day 2 and day 3 except for 24 hours. The only time you "know" is when it times out - or when someone cancels a legitimate transaction out of impatience - which IS against the rules after the 1 hour "buyers remorse" period.

(edit) Note: All bets are off if someone doesn't reply within the specified timeline, of course - THAT'S not acceptable. I'm only pointing out that any "problems" with others responding within the timeline but not early enough to suit someone are entirely self-created. In other words, it's no more a problem than if I were to complain about Media Mail not arriving in two days.

It isn't necessarily in the mail. That "Electronic Shipping Info Received" message is generated automatically when the DC PBS label is printed out. Sender #1 made a label but didn't necessarily put it in the mail. It hasn't been scanned at any rate (There would be messages like  "enroute" or "delivered".) It's a little odd for Sender #1 to go through the trouble (and expense) of printing the DC label but not put it in the mail. Perhaps an emergency came up.

Sounds like the sender messed up, and if they're out a credit because of it, well..  ultimately, that's their responsibility. What to do on your end if you do get doubles is up to you. Glad you're getting your book from someone else, at least.

Robin,

Your best bet in your situation is to put your account on hold on Fridays. When you check your account, set it to go on hold on the next Friday (and Saturday as well, if you think it necessary). Then you won't have to worry about missing out on WL books that you might want that are posted late Friday. (Sure, they might go on to the next person, but you won't lose your #1 spot in line for the next.) That's what hold is for. Why not take advantage of it?

Good suggestion, Jane.  Thanks!  I'm tired of losing books and ending up at the end of the queue again.