Hello all,

A couple of weeks ago I mailed out a WL'd book that had been requested by a member here.

Today, I get a manila envelope from the USPS with the (very much shredded) book wrapper and a "hey, sorry,  we lost your book" note inside.  It looks like someone opened the wrapper and decided that the book I had sent out

was now theirs.  I got almost all of the wrapper back.  

Do I return the credit to the requester or does she automatically get it back if & when she marks it lost? I have not yet contacted her, but plan to do so.  

Contact the PBS Team and ask them to cancel the transaction and explain what happened.  They will cancel it and the requestor will receive their credit back.

Contact Us - under Company Header at the bottom right of this screen.

ETA - Click on the feedback button and when you are finished, click on Submit Feedback.

Nancy,

If you do nothing, the book will eventually get marked lost by the system automatically, at which point the requestor will get back their credit.

Because this will not happen automatically until the full mailing period passes, and you already know that they will not be receiving the book, it is considered polite to notify PBS so that they can cancel the transaction ahead of time, thus returning the credit to the requestor sooner than it would otherwise happen.

From the help center:

If your book was returned to you damaged en route by USPS, you should contact the requestor (using the button on the en route transaction for the book) to let him or her know what happened, and also contact us, providing the book title, to ask us to cancel the transaction.  When we do this, the requestor will get credit back so she or he can try to get the book from someone else.

• If the book comes back to the sender damaged, the transaction needs to be canceled by us.

While you didn't actually get the book back - I think this guideline applies.

At this point, only PBS can cancel the transaction.  (After marking mailed and before being received.)  It will cancel on the lost date.  But it is much nicer for the receiver if it is canceled before that.  Then they can get back on the WL.