I recently had a member order a book from me, and then go on an extended vacation (~1 month). Haha! After a good while I started to worry that it got lost in the mail. The member finally emailed me to say she'd been on vacation the whole time (and still was) and would check her mail in another week. (No, I had not sent her any frantic, accusing PM's).

I'm really happy that it's very likely not lost. *whew* I hadn't been using PBS DC or postage, but I will now!

Oh yeah... this was not a waitlisted book, either. I had it on my bookshelf for quite some time.

So what do you think about ordering books when you know you won't be around for an extended period of time to check your mail and mark them received? I mean... being on vacation for a week or so isn't very long - that's ok. But a month or more? Out of courtesy to other members I wouldn't order books if I knew I wouldn't be around to mark them received within a reasonable amount of time. 

Sigh... just the idea of an extended vacation sound wonderful... I suspect that if I was going to be off-line for 2 weeks or more... I would probably mark all the books on their way as received... even if they weren't... and take the risk.  However, if any of my Wishlisted books on autorequest came through after I left.. those would have to wait to be marked received.

If I know I'm not going to be around I try to time my ordering appropriately, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Part of the fun for me is seeing that stuffed mailbox, so it's not as special if the books are brought in by my petsitter or something. But not everyone feels that way. The person has obviously sent out their books an earned credits, so why shouldn't they? No one likes getting their books lost in the mail, but as long as the person logs them back in when they return home, they're fully within the bounds of PBS rules. Unless PBS says something like "all books must be checked in within 24 hours of hitting your mailbox" (yeah, right), then there's nothing wrong with people traveling and ordering. Maybe they really wanted to have a huge tower of books waiting for them when they got home!

Oh yes, I agree that there's nothing wrong with it and it's not against the rules at all. I suppose it's more of a "courtesy" issue than anything else.

I'm not upset at all... especially since she PM'd me about it.

Ooooooh... How I would love to have an extended vacation. *sigh*

And I agree that there's nothing more thrilling than having a big pile of packages waiting for you.  :-)

Wait a minute...there are people who take month long vacations???  :-O

I'd call that rude.  Would have taken the requester about 3 seconds to notify you of the situation BEFORE she left, which would have given you the option to use DC or at least not worry that the book is lost.  Haven't I seen something in the guidelines about this??  Thinking on it, I'd also consider sending a pm to TPTB since this is obviously an arranged in advance absence that left you (and other members?) hanging.   I've seen members with unexpected family emergecies (and books in transit) find a few seconds to notify senders of the situation before leaving town for long periods, I would certainly expect the same courtesy from a vacationing member. 

I'd call that rude. Me too. There's nothing wrong with it under site rules, but making another member wait for their credit that long without tellling them ahead of time is rude.

I've had that happen twice this summer.  Within days of each other.  Two members had gone on extended vacations and the books were showing up as delivered to the area where they lived but it still seemed like they might be lost.  Both were marked received the day before they would have gone lost.  Then I got a PM from each saying tee-hee and ha-ha I was on vacation and just picked up my mail. 

I was very thankful that I had used PBS/DC but even with that I was antsy about the books.  Can't help it, just me. 

Wow - I see nothing rude about it at all.    It's within the rules and didn't cost you anything.      People have lives and PMing everyone about every little thing could certainly ruin the PBS experience for me.

That said - the day I go on vacation I mark every book received if I've gotten it or not.  I don't want to think about them while gone and am willing to take a chance of getting a bad book. 

I have sent out 300 plus books.  DC on each of them would have cost me MUCH more than a lost book here and there.   I guess I'm just more laid back about books than most.

Also, you have to see the danger in telling total strangers...."hey I'm going to be on an extended vacation and no one will be at home to check my mail."  Do you see how stupid and how much of a risk that is.....I can say it is certainly not something that I would do.

It's also possible that the person ordered the book in what they thought would be plenty of time and it timed out on others before it got to you.  I recently went on vacation and did not PM folks to let them know I'd be gone (for the reason Christy mentions--I don't advertise that I'm going away). I stopped ordering books (except for the wishlist ones I had on auto-request) about a month before I left. However, one of those books passed through a number of folks before it got to one that finally accepted. I marked my books received as soon as I got home. One of them (the only one with DC) was received in my post office the day after we left for vacation---the others were mailed right about the time we were leaving, so I got them right about the time I normally would be getting them anyway--we were gone for 12 days.

I wouldn't tell a total stranger (who had just garnered my personal address) that I was going out of town for a month, but I would probably just mark the books received (if I was going on a vaca that would really cut the time close, not for just a week or two).

Even members posting above that wouldn't have pm'd, still appear to have made arrangements and allowances for books in the mail when they are unavailable.  AND a week or two is different than four weeks, which times out in the system and marks the book lost in the mail.  The original post says this was not a wishlisted book, so it could have been ordered at any time.

A month long vacation is usually planned well in advance.  When requesting the book, a pm could have been sent recommending DC as the requester may not be in a position to log in frequently (any vague excuse would have worked). She already offered the 'I'm out of town' information, so security clearly isn't her motivation.  So rude still works for me.

The original post says this was not a wishlisted book, so it could have been ordered at any time.

Well, the OP  might not have been the first person that the book was requested from. Sure, you could stop ordering books in advance of a vacation ... but how far in advance? I mean, I might order a book a month in advance, but first my request times out on a few senders, then it gets mailed at the last mailing date .... I could order a book, reasonably anticipating that it would arrive well in advance of my vacation, only to have it ... not arrive in time.

And, that last sender isn't going to know that I've really been waiting for the book for a lot longer than they have been waiting for the credit.

Gotta side with the "it was rude and inconsiderate" vote on this one.

If I was leaving for an extended vacation after just ordering a book and if the book was marked mailed, I'd mark it as recieved. The chances of me getting it are 99% anyway, so not much risk. A sender won't complain if you mark it as recieved a little early - if the sender even notices.

I had to laugh about this one because I just got back in town from a planned 2 wk. vacation that turned into a three week absence due to a family issue.  I put my account on hold, but I had no less than 6 auto ordered wish list books come through during that time!  It was a WL bonanza like I've never experienced.  Anyway, none of the books were going to go over into being lost before I got back but I did end up e-mailing everyone when I had the one week delay.