I've also had 3 books declaired lost in the mail in the last few months, one has delivery confirmation and was 'accepted' into the postal system. Aside from this, I've noticed that it's taking much longer for books to be scanned (all of mine are printable postage or delivery confirmation) and delivered. Even stranger, there is an audiobook (sent first class, even!) in my transaction archive that was received by the other member on the 12th of July (she PM'd me)... the USPS still shows it 'enroute'... no updates by USPS since the 12th. Well, I'm sorry others are having the same issues the last couple months, but I'm relieved that I"m not the only one!

Laura

I thought it was just me.  Two books that I shipped have been "lost" last month and I'm waiting a really long time for the books that I've requested.  I've always found cyber swapping reliable and convenient but not so anymore.  While I understand that PBS can't control the US Mail, I find it very frustrating.  Do you think the Post Office is doing this on purpose so we will all go first class and spend more?  
Does anyone have any suggestions?  I've been waiting 2 weeks for a book I'm supposed to read for my book club.  I should have just gone to Borders as I will no longer have time to read it before my meeting.  

Also, I was suprised to find that since I didn't use deliver confirm - I lost my credit altogether!  The last and only time this happened to me - the sender got her credit back and so did I as we were both in "good standing."  It hasn't happened to me since.  Needless to say, I'm still in "good standing" and I lost my credits for the two books I sent  - all because I didn't spend the money with PBS?

I'm sorry but I just don't get it.

Katie - the sender never gets the credit if the book goes lost whithout DC or PBS postage regardless of "good standing".  I don't think they ever did that on this site.  PBS could not afford to give the sender credits in all of the lost transactions (that is where the senders credit would have to come from when the receiver gets their's back).  The small fees paid for the DC is what covers that cost of the credits given to the sender in lost situations. Its not so much about spending money with PBS, but helping cover the costs of those credits to keep the site free to use.

I don't think you need to go FC on all of your books. It would proably cost less in the long run to use PBS-DC and give yourself the guarantee on the credit.  Ironically, the only books I have had go lost were sent FC without the DC.

I would suggest that anything you need in less than 2 weeks, you buy locally. On PBS you can easily wait 10 days just for the book to be mailed and many places have a high enough quantity of mail that the medial mail can sit for days before leaving the PO.  

Please read a recent posting I put in the forum.  I've had it "explained" by my local postmaster, and MEDIA MAIL is the problem and they don't bother to explain how those packages are handled (or not).  The difference in cost to me to ship a paperback media mail vs first class was just 7 cents!   But the way it would be handled was extremely different.

After going over a year without a lost book, I've had a couple lost books in the last few months.  Two books were lost in June.  (It was a 2 for 1 deal.)  Another book went lost at the end of August.  Now I have 3 more books on their way from two different addresses that were mailed almost 3 weeks ago.  One is a skinny book that I assumed would be sent first class.  Hopefully the mail is just slow and they will show up eventually.  At least the books I've sent have been getting to their destination.

It's funny... the three books that I have mailed out have arrived at their destinations within 10 days.  The two books that I have ordered that are coming media mail appear to be stuck in some postal hell. One finally was updated on the DC and it took 10 days to get from OR to WA. That's pretty sad considering it still needs to get here to upstate NY and at the rate it's traveling, I'll see it sometime next year.  The other book is coming from TX and I haven't had an update on the DC since 8/29. I had a different book arrive in 2 days because the sender sent it first class. I think she only spent 10 cents more than media mail.