I have sent out 5 books and requested 8 since Christmas. Only a very few I requested have reached their destination.. Is it just me or is anyone else experiencing really slow mailing times?

(not just on this site either! I am also waiting for 2 small packages from friends sent first class and they are moving awfully slow as well.)

Things were really slow over the holidays but they seem to be picking back up this week. Remember that media mail is always shipped space available so it can take 3-4 weeks sometimes.

Okay, I did not know that.  I was wondering what the difference between first class and media was.

Yeah, I know it isn't priority mail. It just seems like I have gotten most books within a week and lately (after the holidays) it had been up to 3 weeks from the same coast I am on!

Example, I got a book in about 4 days from CA  (I am in CT) but now I am waiting on a book from VA and it is slow as molasses! I would think it were just my post office or even marking books mailed before they actually go out but books that I am mailing from various post offices are taking just as long..

Sorry, I am just not a patient reader!! lol

I have had some really slow ones lately, but then I also had some arrive almost immediately.  More slow ones though.

I keep hearing that Media Mail takes 3 weeks, but I find that it is more like 4-5 days.  One book came to me the day after it was mailed, although that was mailed in-state.

Right up until Christmas all my books coming and going were really pretty fast. Now books only going a couple of hundred miles are taking a couple of weeks. It's like everybody employed by usps is on vacation. I'm actually fearing that I may have a couple of books go lost as they still aren't at their destination, and I've NEVER had a lost book before. And my DC's look like I've never even mailed them, even though I personally hand them to my mail lady.

I've had a bunch of books go missing around the holidays...I am hoping some are still on the way, because this has never happened before. 

i have 2 that are taking 18 day and first time i didnt put dc so i can check .

If you want to do this you can find out the average time it takes to get from one state to another as recorded here on PBS.  Go to Pulse of PBS (found under the Community tab) and scroll down to the end of the page where you choose the state from and the state to.  Alaska to Virginia averages 15 days!  Although it took much longer for a couple of mine.  Hawaii to VA average is 14 days.  Once again mine was much longer.  You have to remember this is only an average.

Ruth

Got one Saturday from Georgia that was mailed on Jan. 9.   That's about normal for me.

Keep in mind that January IS a prime time for mail slow down.  First, all the extra employees are finishing up their holiday time.  Then there are all the vacations that postal workers couldn't take from Thanksgiving to New Years.  Finally, you have the January weather.  And this year has been filled with snow and cold across the country.

There is a reason why TPTB picked 26 days before a book goes lost.  Yes, a lot of the time, books will be received in 3 to 8 days, but you never really know which book might be put on the wrong truck or which PO will be snowed under for a week or when a book will slide out of a bin and slide under the seat of your mailperson's car (this actually happened to me.  My regular person was sick.  Her temp guy had a smaller car and overfilled his bins.  He delivered for 2 weeks.  Her first day back she put a book in my mailbox with a post it that said "Sorry this took so long.  Was under the other guy's seat.  Hope it didn't go Lost".  But it helps that my mail lady is also a member).

Of course, just because things might be a little slow right now, doesn't mean that we can't freak out and vent here.  Personally I have one book on it's way to me that is a rare book that I never thought I would get offered.  I'm dying to receive it and it's going SLOW.  The worst part is that I have multiple versions on my wishlist, so when it arrives, I can actually add a book that I NEED to my overly full wishlist.  I hate slow mail.

Kerry

I never realized that the details button on the requested book page show you the mailing details (sorry, I am slow! lol)  The books I was really waiting for were not mailed when I thought they were and it looks like the books I mailed sat at the po for 3 days (they were mailed at the same time) though they are taking a long time en route.

Media Mail is processed as postal employees have time, sometimes quickly and sometimes not.  Also check for Hawaii addresses, those sometimes wait in containers for awhile.  Some of our HI PBS members were commenting on their long mail times for Media Mail, apparently 5 weeks is very normal for them.

Good luck with your mail!

The weather has been heinous nationwide...I know that's had a significant impact on mail. For a few days, for example, all of the major highways in Washington were shut down due to flooding. It's just taking a lot more time to get things to and from people because of the weather.

I have the same issue here. It's about Xmas packages clogging the USPS system. Netflix used to take 2 days round trip, but ever since about Dec 15 it's been taking 3 days, and it's still 3 days for Netflix!

I'm waiting for a backlog of books right now, I have two that are about to go lost, and that is unusual for me.  I thought I'd receive some yesterday after the three days with no mail, but I didn't--maybe they were delivering the 1st class mail yesterday and they will all come today!

Thankfully, I received both the books that were just about to go lost.  Once came the same day I posted the previous message, and the other came the day after it was declared lost.

Now I have a third book that is close, the book details show that the electronic info was received on 1/3 and the book was finally scanned (in the same state) on 1/23.  So I'm hopeful that I'll get that one too.

There have definitely been some longer delivery times this January!