I got my first non-postable book today. :(  I guess I had a good run since 11/05 so it was bound to happen. Wow! This book is hashed! I don't get how a person treats something so wonderful, so horribly! We have curled pages, water stains, cleaved spine, ripped cover..... this baby's got it all!! I guess it was going to be my first time, it's good nothing was done halfway. :D  I hope it was as good for the sender as it was for me. lol

Ok, I'm done whining.

Snort!  You lost your PBS innocence! Alas, it happens to all of us eventually.

and it seems your fall from grace was a really hard one!

I've just lose my innocence a month or so ago too, also the first real time since joining in '05!  Oh, the book looks fine...

But it reeks of pot!  I have no idea how they got so much smell to stick to a book!  Everything else in my mailbox picked up the smell, and it was so strong at first I couldn't even identify it as weed.  I'm surprised this one made it through the postal system without some serious inspecting!!

After a day or so of attempting to de-stink it by putting it in a tupper with a container of baking soda, the whole first floor of my house smelled strongly of erm, pachouli...and I was afraid it was gonna give me the munchies so I moved it to the basement. 

It's still making my eyes water, so I'm not sure I'll be able to read this copy....  I'm too amused to be pissed though -- think I've been sitting too close to the book?  LOL!

And hey, I don't have a "no potty books" mailing restriction or anything.  :P

Two out of three of my first 3 (free) books were unpostables.  It's a wonder that I continued to order books, but my track record got better.  Well actually, I pm a lot of people before ordering now just to be on the safe side, and it's a good thing because I've received several replies saying that the book I had inquired about was not in postable condition.  Yet they leave them on their shelves anyway.  It really irritates me.

I've gotten some that I personally wouldn't have posted, but maybe squeak by the guidelines. I've also gotten a couple that were definitely unpostable, but I didn't say anything because I got them as part of a deal or I just didn't want to make a fuss....I'm a little afraid of confrontation on PBS.

My most memorable non-post'able book had one end of the corner chewed off by a dog or maybe a big rat... it had bite marks all over the book with a huge chunk of the corner ripped off, where you could barely read it. 

How in the world could anyone in all fairness post this... LOL... thinking of all the saliva, I ended up throwing it away without even reading it. 

My worst had yellow stains on the page edges - obviously doggy pee.  It didn't especially smell, but with the teeth impressions in the cover, it was sorta obvious what the stains were.  It was a yucky experience.

for smelly books putting them ina zippy bag with a bar of ivory soap might help..that's the suggestion several gave on a quilt forum I'm on when we had blocks that reeked of cigarette.

I've gotten  1 book that I can recall that was bad..I didn't complain though I could h ave but it was in a deal from book bazaar and a very generous deal..just ticks me off that this one book is part of a series I was collecting and it's the one that was the most ruined..looks like a truck ran over it :-( I keep thinking I'll see it in a deal again and replace it but so far it hasn't happened.

I have a stack of posted books that smells like "something" and another stack that doesn't.  This is from receiving books from non-smokers and smokers at random so I try to keep them separated..I personally don't smoke, so I know how gross it is when the book smells like an ash tray .  I always feel bad when I have to send out a book from my "stink" pile but what can you do *shrug*, as long as they look clean and not too gross....

Curious to know how others handle this... do you just throw them all together?

I have one of those A&H Fridge/Freezer baking soda boxes in the tub with my shelf books.  I also put one in a large ziplock baggie with books I get that smelly really smokey (I don't have RCs about books from smokers).   I think it helps. 

I, too have been very lucky in the two years I've been here, but just recently got my first Advanced Reading Copy.  How someone could miss that those are unpostable - since it says so right when you post them - is beyond me.

Katrina

after my very first book arrived reeking of cigarette smoke, i added non-smoking RC's.  i'll turn them off if i'm ordering a good deal in the Book Bazaar, and playing in swaps sometimes i'll get books from smokers (though now i've started looking so maybe i can avoid that too).

i do keep the stinky books in the same bag, but each one is in a ziploc bag so it's not touching, and hopefully that's enough to keep the smell out of the other books - and my home. 

my first stinky book finally got re-ordered, and is getting mailed today.  since the person had no RCs, i don't feel bad.  (i ended up reading it while i had a cold so i couldn't smell it.)  i've had a few others that aired out and no longer smelled bad that are just mixed in with the rest.

I've gotten an ARC, too. I pm'ed the sender about it, who said they didn't realize it was one, when it says so right on the cover! I didn't ask for my credit back though and gave them the benefit of the doubt. But still...I am with ya, it's so obvious! As to the stinky smoky books, I don't really know how to repost them. I'm not a smoker, but I don't have RC's against it, yet I have gotten some really rank ones. I don't really feel comfortable reposting them...

Oh Collette, you poor dear.  I, however, am still a virgin, but I know it's bound to happen sooner or later just as it does in every good romance novel.  If only the loss of your virginity had come at the hands of a handsome, strong, and arrogant duke instead of some creepy lady from God knows where, doing God knows what with her books.  It just might not have hurt as much :)

I can't say that I have ever detected smoke odors on books, but with my nasal allergies, it could just be that my smeller doesn't work as well as most people's do.  I know I can pick it up on fabrics right away.  My sister is into crochet big time, and she has made me some beautiful things, but she and her hubby are heavy smokers, and the lovely scarves and afghans she's made for me will positively reek of cigarette smoke.  I hate to have to wash something like that when I first get it, but I couldn't stand to have it near me if I didn't - the smoke odor is just that bad.  I see so many people talk about smoke odors on books though, and I keep thinking I'm due, but so far, nothing I've received has caught my attention in that way - knock on wood:P

It just hit me... if Collette is no longer a virgin, considering how many disgusting books I've gotten over the years, I must be a disease-riddled whore. ;-)

LOL. You ladies have made me feel so much better about my experience.  Thank you for the lol's and the chuckles on a serious subject.  It really does disturb me that some people just don't seem to be bothered at all about sending out crap. Some of them would probably be the first ones to b*tch to PBS and the sender if someone did that to them and demand their credit back. 

I have gotten a few smokey books and I don't have any RC's. I have found that if I leave them in my tbr pile long enough that the smell seems to dissipate over time.

How many of you have made a comment to the sender and did it help? I keep looking at this book and thinking I should make a comment but I'm not much of a confrontational being. I didn't type a thank you note and I always thank a person for the book. That was my silent protest I guess. lol  Pretty effective, I'm sure.

I'm pretty non-confrontational myself in some ways.  Catch me on the wrong day and you've got trouble.  Other days, I just let it all slide.  I think it's better to just forget this and make note of it to pbs in the comments box.  If the book is readable, just read it and throw it away.  At least you won't feel like the credit was for nothing.

One time I asked someone a question about the book jacket and whether or not it was the original and she got snotty with me.  So I got snotty right back, and I'm thinking.......I'm having a fight with a complete stranger!

The very first book I received from PBS was a problem transaction.  I was sent the wrong book.  It was cleared up pretty easily though.  I'm glad the sender was very cooperative with fixing the problem or I would have been turned off PBS immediately.  I had already mailed out about 20books and was very discouraged to have my 1st received one be wrong.  But since then I've only received a couple truly bad books worth an RWP.  I've received several borderline ones that I probably wouldn't have posted myself.  But everybook eventually has to reach the last person as a postable book so I'm ok with it being me sometimes.  I just sell those to half price books, donate to the thrift store or post them on bookmooch where you can post it's condition.  This is the best site by far though.

"It just hit me... if Collette is no longer a virgin, considering how many disgusting books I've gotten over the years, I must be a disease-riddled whore. ;-)"

LOL thanks for the laugh, WIlla! 

Trying to decide whether to complain about a water damaged book brought this song to mind:

Took my shirt to the cleaners
In an hour they'd have it Martinized
I should have complained when they ruined it
But instead I apologized
'Cause I'm a wimp, and I know it
I take every opportunity I can to show it
I'm a wimp, I swear it
The shoe doesn't fit but I'll still wear it
I'm a wimp

Took my friend out to dinner
The Top of the Mark was where we went
The waiter was rude and so was the food
But I tipped him thirty-five percent

'Cause I'm a wimp, and I know it
I take all the anger I feel and stow it
I'm a wimp, I swear it
I'd rather be mad at myself than share it
I'm a wimp

My therapist says I'm not really weak at all
She says I don't need to always be meek and small
She thinks I'm just lacking a sense of self-worth
But I know some day I'll inherit the earth

The heat went out in December
So I gave the landlord a ring
He said he was busy, I said, "Of course,
I don't mind waiting 'til Spring

'Cause I'm a wimp, and I know it
I take every chance to be strong and blow it
I'm a wimp, I swear it
I should be assertive but I just don't dare it
I'm a wimp

My therapist says I'm not really weak at all
She says I don't need to always be meek and small
She thinks I'm just lacking a sense of self-worth
But I know some day I'll inherit the earth

music & lyrics ©1985 Ron Romanovsky
Published by Bodacious Music (ASCAP)

ROFL!!!!! Willa! That was hilarious!!!  That is about how I feel too. I should have said something now that I think about it but oh well. It's too late now!

Thanks for the laugh again. :D

Willa --  Too, too funny.  That says it all!

It's even better when you hear it, with harmonies! :-)