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Um, I'm sorry to hear it? Do you want to elaborate? ;-)

I'm sorry that you have had such a bad run.  at least on the 4 that were never mailed you went back to the top of the list!

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Then there's the WL book that was offered to me and marked mailed on October 10. I finally got it 11/21 with a postmark date from the sender's hometown, of 11/19. By that time it had gone lost I had already been offered another copy, received it, and almost finished reading it.

I hope you didn't mark this book received.   If a Sender marks a book Mailed, but doesn't actually get around to mailing it until after it has been marked Lost by the PBS system, the Sender is supposed to contact the Receiver to see if they still want the book.  From what you wrote, I'm assuming that the Sender didn't contact you but just mailed the book, in which case you are under no obligation to mark the book Received.

Of course, if it's just a postmark of 11/19, there's always a possibility that the Sender DID mail it on 10/10 and it sat in the Sender's hometown USPS office for over a month before being postmarked.  Was it a stamped postmark or actual strip postage from the PO with a date on it?

I've had a run of unpostables as well.  I feel guilty everytime I RWP because I can still technically read the book. But I repost all my books and the last thing I need is another unpostable in the house.  Klutz that I am, I damage enough books on my own w/o getting them sent to me that way.  The last person was downright rude. 

<<I feel guilty everytime I RWP because I can still technically read the book.>>

Please don't feel guilty.  The system relies on you marking them RWP, otherwise the member just continues to send bad books, and you pass the problem on to the next person down the line.  The occasional error won't hurt someone's account, but repeat behavior can jeopardize a member's account.

Cheers,

Catt

The way the system is set up we expect to not only be able to read the book, but also to repost it. So don't feel guilty.

I personally have a policy of returning refunded credits if I either decided to keep the RWP book or was able to sell it to a UBS or at half.com. (You can sell books you can't repost!) That just seems fair to me, since I didn't wind up stuck with an unwanted book.

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I got a book this week that was mailed 22 days after the person marked it as mailed. It arrived the same day that PBS declared it lost. It's the first time something like that has happened. (At least that long of a delay. A couple of days seems more understandable to me. Of course, who knows why it was delayed so long? People do get sick, etc. Though you'd think if you're that late sending it wouldn't be too difficult to send a quick "oops" PM once you were up and about.)

Here's the link to the page in the Help Docs that explains what a sender is supposed to do if mailing late (go all the way to the bottom of the page):  http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/help_index.php    

ETA:  This link only takes to you the Help Docs, not the specific page.  It's under Getting and Sending Books at PBS >> Sending Books for Credits >>Can I send a book later?

And here's a cut and paste: 

If you are mailing a book VERY late and the book has already been marked lost in the Mail at PBS, you must contact the requestor using the PM button on the lost in mail transaction in your Transaction Archive, to be sure that the requestor still wants the book.

• If she replies that she does still want it you can mail it to her.  She can mark it received from her Transaction Archive and you will get credit at that time.
• If she replies that she does not want it (she may have gotten a copy from someone else in the meantime), you should repost the book for someone else to request.
• If she does not respond to your PM, you should repost the book.  It will be offered to her automatically if she still wants a copy.
• You should not mail a "lost" book to the original requestor unless she has confirmed that she still wants it in a Personal Message.  If you mail it and she has already gotten another copy, she will NOT be obligated to mark the book received, or to return it to you.

I just got one with highlighting, bright orange, all through the text.  It isn't a textbook.  I requested my credit back and am still waiting.  A few more days, I'll ask again, and if no repsonse, go up the next level.  I even copy and pasted the FAQ.  Lately my books have been mostly ok.  And I finally messed up after almost 3 years here!  I mailed a book to the wrong person, so mistakes happen, but the condition stuff still peeves me to no end.

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Willa, I have to respectfully disagree if you mean that the book should be re-postable after you finish reading it.  It should be postable when you open the package, but like everything books have a useable life.  At some point someone is going to give a book it's last read.  The binding that was ok when you got it will come apart or something.  A book can be postable but not repostable after it is read.

I agree with Kate on that. It should be postable when you get the book, but it may not necessarily be repostable when you're done with it...I have had a few books that were still postable when I got them but my reading of the book was enough to tip it over the line to where I would not re-post it...the worn spine became cleaved, pages started separating, etc. Every book has a shelf life, and sometimes it happens that it wears out on your watch.

I'm really sorry you guys have had such a nasty run of luck! Considering the number of transactions I've had I feel like I've gotten off really, really lucky...I still can count the number of RWPs on one hand, even though I'm coming up fast on 1200 books received. Every time I say that I knock on wood about a dozen times. LOL

Cheryl