I received a request for five children's books and mailed them out all in one package.  The requestor messaged me that she only received two of the five books.  I asked her if the package was torn open or re-taped and she said no.  I KNOW I put all five books in the package, so where's the other three books?  The receiver wrote that her mail service was terrible and she keeps having problems like this.....?!   My question is why would anyone steal just three children's books out of the package, carefully re-tape the package and send it on it's way? That seems highly unlikely to me.

At this point, there are two options:  the requestor flat-out lied so she could get 5 books for 2 credits.  Or there is a very strange mail person stealing only a few books out of certain packages and then perfectly sealing them up and mailing them on. 

How do I alert PBS about this?  I would guess by her comments about her 'mail problems' that she's going to have a lot of books on her PBS record that she requested and then were marked 'lost in the mail' or 'not in package'. 

I wouldn't report it unless she starts harassing you or something. Did she mark the package RWAP, or did she mark it received normally? If you're sure you sent all 5 books, you're within your rights to tell her so and refust to return any credits.

If the receiver gets a lot of books going lost on her account, she will be flagged and they will review things.

I would request the receiver's address from her and tell her you will be filing the theft forms with the postal service. That is what gets filed for lost items. If she is indeed lying and attempting to get free books, it might worry her enough to come back and say the other 3 showed up.

But, I will say stranger things have happened than books disappearing out of packages. I would recommend in future shipments of multiples to bind them all together. If the books were able to shift they could have worked their way out. There have been cases where the packaging looked like it hadn't been disturbed, yet the content was no longer even a book. If packages lose their contents on the conveyors, the USPS workers don't always get the right stuff back into the right packages. If you bind all of the  books together and even put the receivers address in there, then if the packaging gets separated from the books, the books still make it there and you know they all make it there. 

  I asked her if the package was torn open or re-taped and she said no.

If the package didn't appear to have been opened and re-taped, I don't know how you can say it was possible postal theft.  I can't imagine a carrier caring enough to steal media mail.  Good luck.  Pat