This is interesting DC reporting on a book that was mailed to me a whole month ago. I wonder how many workers at that P.O. read the book?

• 12/28/2012 10:59 AM - Electronic Shipping Info Received - BALLWIN,MO
• 1/26/2013 3:00 PM - Acceptance - BALLWIN,MO
• 1/26/2013 9:45 PM - Enroute - HAZELWOOD,MO

Electronic Shipping Info Received just means that the postage was bought not mailed.    

It looks to me like the book was mailed on Saturday Jan 26th. I know when I drop books into the blue box the acceptance scan sometimes is a few days later as maybe they forgot it in the box.

It looks to me like the book was mailed on Saturday Jan 26th.

That would prove interesting as I twice contacted the sender to tell her the book was not being scanned on its way.

That would appear to be a late mailing Thomas.  Check the wrapper when it arrives and see if there's additional indications of late mailing, if so you may wish to RWAP.  If the package was legitimately mailed a month late without notification and permission from you to mail...it's a solid violation of PBS guidelines.  Did the transaction recently get bumped into the Lost catagory?

Electronic Info Received - merely means that the customer has requested that a DC number be generated, and has no bearing on the actual mailing date.
Acceptance - is the scan that indicates the package/DC has actually been received and is in the hands of USPS.
 

Well, I received the book today, which was actually two days short of the latter limit for it to arrive. It was acknowledged on 12/28, postmarked on 01/04 (PBS label) and the PO in Missouri reported receiving it 01/26. So it does look like a late mailing. Would have been nice for the sender to tell me. One post when I told her it was late, I also mentioned that I wasn't in a hurry. Looks like she took me literally.

It was mailed late.  That acceptance scan is usually when the parcel is dropped off at the Post Office.  That is how my town does it.  I hate preprinted postage as some members think it is okay to mail the book whenever as long as the meter says within 5 days of accepting the request. 

If you are going by the tracking scan, I wouldn't guarantee that scan as being accurate. Some of these POs are ding some weird crap. The sorting center in the town next to mine will scan acceptance of my books when it gets into there - I've seen it days after I've blue boxed the book. Sometimes they will scan the acceptance as my city, sometimes theirs. And the really maddening thing is the sorting center in the next STATE on the route will do the same thing if they are the first to scan the book. They will scan acceptance in my city an hour or less before they scan En Route in their city. It is not physically possible for the book to be in my city an hour before it is in their city.

I am not saying you book wasn't mailed late. But if a book has PBS postage and is dropped in a blue box, I wouldn't trust the accuracy of the first scan either, the USPS is doing some weird stuff.

Yup, I've had books "disappear" between the time I drop them off at the post office and they time they get a scan.

It's much more common that they get scanned quickly, usually the same day, but I remember recently I started checking on a package that took DAYS to get it's acceptance scan. Don't know why, I dropped it off like normal but it must have sat on a shelf or something as it just didn't get any scans for a handful of days, even though the other package that day that I mailed with DC had an acceptance scan and was well on it's way. It finally got an acceptance scan something like 5 days later.

So, it could be a late mailing, or could just be ... who knows?

I'd say 99.9% chance it was a late mailing. It's possible it fell behind a shelf or something at the PO, but considering the sender wasn't doing much communicating with you, I'd say they just mailed it late. At least they dropped it off before 1/27, otherwise there's a chance it would have arrived postage due. 

Oh, I know the answer to this one!  The package fell on the floor and got kicked under the sorting table-- sweeping never dislodged it from that location til a month had passed!  (that's the excuse I got when I ran a drug testing collection site and one of our urine samples never arrived at the lab!  Yep, over a month later the rancid smelling box was returned to me!     :(       blech  )