I shipped off some books yesterday and according to the shipping date here, it could take as long as 5-3-2011 for the recipients to get the books. I imagine that it doesn't really take that long, but how long does it take?

I'm mailing off all my books and it feels strange until someone else confirms that they've received them.

This is my first time participating in anything like this and I usually just keep all my books but it is time to share and hopefully get some books that I've been looking for. Our local bookstore can order for me, but that gets expensive the way I read. I tend to look at the discounted, used books. When I get hooked on a series though, I've been known to fork out hardcover prices like a crack addict. lol

Media mail shipping can be slow. If I were to put an average time on it, I'd say between one and two weeks. It's known to take longer though.

Your books will most likely be marked received normally. I've had very few problems with people failing to mark them received. Most people do it quickly.

I've never seen it take longer than about a week.  It's taken almost a month for people to mark the books as received though.  I recommend doing the PBS DC next time, I have much more peace of mind this way as I get the credit as soon as it's scanned by the post office and I can see when it gets there since it's marked received.  

Most books sent Media Mail take 4-10 days.  Some take way longer, though.  The name of the game here at PBS is patience. :)

Welcome!

Most of my books arrive within one to two weeks. Although one book I mailed on 1/11/11 and gave up for lost was finally marked received last week.

Actually, I do a ton of mailing and receiving, and I would say that most books sent Media Mail seem to arrive sometime in the second week after they are mailed (so I would put the "normal" time period at 7 to 14 days.)

Can you get them faster? Sure, happens all the time.

Does it take longer? Sure, happens all the time.

I would say about half arrive in the second week, maybe another 45 percent arrive split between the 3rd and 1st weeks, and about 5 percent take 4 weeks (although to be honest, if you get the book in the 4th week after it was mailed, I find that more often, it was mailed later than stated, not that it actually took that long to arrive).

Books regularly take longer than a week to arrive.  I don't use PBS DC as I feel it's a waste of money. I've had 1 book go lost out of probably 2,000 sent between 3 trading sites, games and when I was a Boxer.  The cost of DC quickly adds up to more than what a lost credit would be.

PBS sets the time frame as nearly a month for a reason.  Because they frequenlty take that long.  But them sometimes they come really quickly.

As others have said, it's very variable. Sometimes you send a book that's going to the same state that takes 2 weeks to get there, other times you send a book halfway across the country that gets there in 2 days.

For me--and I live in the middle of the country, so this may not be typical for people on either coast--most of my books in either direction arrive within a week of mailing. Don't worry too much if it takes longer, though.

I do remember how you feel--I used to be a book keeper and it felt weird sending "my" books off to someone else--I wondered if this really worked, if people were honest, if people would really send books to me that I've ordered...well, the answer is yes to all! I'm a very happy camper after 5 1/2 years here. I still have about the same number of books I had when I joined--it's just that now, I haven't read most of them! LOL

Cheryl

I was a book keeper too.  Now I tell myself I'm storing my books in other people's homes. :-)

Welcome to PBS Liz!  

Times vary alot with Media Mail.  I received two in todays mail, both from the opposite coast.  One dated 4/1 and the other 4/4, both of those were very quick.

Remember that Media Mail travels on a 'space available' basis with USPS.  If there's room with First Class, some MM may get tossed in.  Or your MM may travel with Parcel Post, or even be set aside for a few days (or more) until somebody has time to sort it.  Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico can average just a bit over 4 weeks, so be prepared if you have transactions coming or going to members in those areas.