I'm just curious as to how many people use delivery confirmation & how many don't?

How many books have you had go lost or not marked received?

I use PBS DC 99% of the time, however last month I mailed out a book with paypal postage, so I didn't receive an instant credit. The book went "lost". The DC shows it as being delivered, but it was never marked as such. I do realize that DC isn't always accurate & books do get misdelivered so I thought nothing of it. The only other time I had a book I sent go lost also had no DC on it.

Then 3 weeks ago I had 10 books to mail out. Printed PBS DC to use on all except 1 (I forgot to change the settings, & because it was going 1st class thought it would arrive quickly enough). Fast forward to now & all 9 books that had DC have been marked as received & the 1 book without it still awaits.

So it just got me wondering how many books with DC go lost or unmarked vs. books sent with DC.

i like the dc because  you can get credit -either instantly or when the post office scans your book depending on the status of your account

and you dont have to worry if the reciver forgot to mark they recived the book

plus if you used the printed postage feature you then can drop your package into any collection box  without going to the post office

Did you contact the person with the PayPal postage and ask? Every time I have asked they've marked the book received soon after.

I use PBS DC most of the time. I think I have had 2 or 3 never marked received. All those that went lost did not have DC on them and went FC.  I use PayPal DC for games and never had any of those go lost.

I think it is a combination of the USPS being less careful with packages that aren't traceable to their facility and members just not marking received.

Leann - If you used non PBS DC and the book shows delivered, you can contact the requestor (politely) and ask if they have received the item. I use PayPal in most of my shipments and it's happened to me a few times that the book shows delivered but haven't been marked received so I've contacted the senders. They hadn't marked the books received because they forgot, went on vacation, have a PO Box and just check it once a week, etc.

Since I've been swapping at PBS, I've only had 3 or 4 books go lost, all of them had DC but they never showed as "delivered." Once was never scanned and the rest were scanned once and they fell of the face of the earth.

I've never used DC and never had any lost books.

I have had 2 books go lost coming to me and they both used DC. I don't think they ever mailed them, though, since there was no acceptance scan by the PO. To all the people bound to point out that those scans aren't always required because it's just delivery confirmation or that the PO is scanning less nowadays: not in my experience. There is always at the very least an acceptance scan and then an arrival at unit scan. My PO always does the arrival at unit scan.

I think if you want instant credit then you should use it, but otherwise I don't think it really makes the difference in whether or not it's actually received..

I use DC quite a bit of the time.  So far I've never had a book go lost or not be marked received, until just here recently.  I have 2 books listed under those I've mailed and according to the DC one was delivered on July 1 and other says a notice was left.   I know I've already received my credit since I used DC, but I still am sorta in limbo as to whether the books were received.  I sent a PM to the one that says it was delivered on July 1, but to date have not received a reply.    Does PBS also message these people and ask them if the books were received?   At this point I am really glad  I used DC so I'm not waiting on my credits.  I understand that things happen in people's lives and that they get busy or don't always have computer access, but it bothers me seeing these books still not being marked received or not hearing back after I've sent a PM.  

Hope everyone has a great Friday!

I just started using printable postage recently when my local PO closed.  I always use DC - I figure I might as well, and I do like getting my credit right away and having to wait anxiously for the book to be marked received.  Maybe if you have a lot of credits, that is less of an issue.

There is always at the very least an acceptance scan and then an arrival at unit scan.

Not if the sender prints APC postage.  Acceptance scans only happen when the sender actually buys the postage at the counter and the book is scanned right then in my experience.  I live in downtown Atlanta, but they don't scan Media Mail here anymore.  If I buy APC postage and drop it in the bin, it won't be scanned until it gets to the Memphis sorting center.

I use DC on pretty much everything.  I haven't had anything go lost that I've sent here, but I have had books sit for a long time after they showed delivered before they were marked as such.  I like getting my credit early.

I've mostly used it because I'm continuously short of credits.  Over the last month or two, I've pretty much stopped and haven't had any problems.  I've never had a book go lost either with or without DC (knocks wood!).

My 2 cents:  I've mailed 311 books FIFO, plus probably 50 from games & buddy swaps.  I've used DC with almost every one & have never had a book go lost.

I've received almost 400 books FIFO, plus an additional 50 from games & buddy swaps.  Some used DC, some didn't. 
Two books have been lost coming to me: 1 used PBS/DC & was never scanned at all, even an accpetance scan, and simply disappeared from the face of the earth. Another loss was in a shipment of 2 books, shipped in a manila envelope, which tore open during shipping & one of the books slipped out & was lost.

That's it.  I truly think actual lost books are very rare. In more than 800 books sent/received, only 2 have gone lost.  As far as members not marking received, even though I use DC, I've still never had anyone NOT mark them.

So if the receiver still hasn't marked the book received by the date of system action, what happens then?  Does PBS generate an email to them asking about the book in question?

I use PBS DC on everything, because I'm ridiculously impatient. :)

Out of 346 mailed, I've had 3 go lost. All had PBS DC.

Of 297 sent TO me, 7 have gone lost. 4 had PBS DC, 3 did not.

PBS generates an auto e-mail to the requestor about a week before the date of system action. I got one this morning.  :-)  It's just a reminder to mark the books received if they have been received.

I am like Sarah :-)

Been using DC for 3 years, sent out over 600 books, never had one go missing (knock on wood).

Have received over 600 books, had roughly 5 others go "lost", none of the lost ones had DC.  Some were later resolved as "oops, I never mailed it".

I love using DC and Printable Postage and never worrying about my credit or where the book is and how long until someone will mark it received.  I know it costs extra, but it is worth it to me (due to my sometimes-impatient personality) and I don't mind spending a little extra to support PBS.  I know not everyone feels the same, and that's fine -- that's why there are plenty of options.

Cheers,

Catt

"There is always at the very least an acceptance scan and then an arrival at unit scan."

This isn't always true...I use DC almost exclusively and I drop the books in a blue box outside of my office.  They all show "Electronic Shipping Info Received" and the next scan is almost always an "En Route" scan from Bell, CA.  Rarely, the books I've sent out don't get scanned again until they've arrived at their destination.  And I have one book that wasn't scanned at all.

I almost never use DC.  I'll use it to places over water such as HI, AK, APOs, GU and PR.  I'll also use it for multiples. 

I had one book take 4 months to arrive here.  It had DC on it.

I have sent over 400 books, received over 360.  And only a handful ever went lost.  Under 10. 

On the other end, I'll sent a PM about a book about to go lost.  Instead of asking if it arrived, I'll send a reassurance that I mailed it.  And details if I remember them.  Such as at a post office or at a blue bin.  I've received a demand that I mark a book received that had not arrived.  Yuck.  (Substitute postal worker scanned 4 books as delivered when they were not.  They came the next week when my regular mailman was back.)

This isn't always true...I use DC almost exclusively and I drop the books in a blue box outside of my office.  They all show "Electronic Shipping Info Received" and the next scan is almost always an "En Route" scan from Bell, CA.  Rarely, the books I've sent out don't get scanned again until they've arrived at their destination.  And I have one book that wasn't scanned at all.

I was wrong about the acceptance scan. It's been since January since I've received a book with DC, but I checked my transaction archive and the scans were just en route scans. It must be UPS I was thinking of. They do acceptance scans.

Regardless, though, I've never received a book with DC without at least one scan. I guess I should also have said that since the senders didn't respond to PMs, I took the no scans thing along with it to mean they never dropped it in a mailbox.

Thanks, Jennifer, you answered my question! 

I never use DC and in over three years have only had one or two lost.  A few that came after the "lost by" date but they were marked recieved through the transaction archive so no problemo.

I  never use dc and have never had a book lost that I have mailed (knock on wood)

however one book I requested was lost in the mail and they also hadn't used dc.  I never did get that book

I

To me paying for DC just for the credit insurance is a waste of money.  I've had 1 book go lost out of over 1,000 sent between the 3 trading sites I do, games and box of books.  The PBS DC fee on that would have been $460.  I'd rather spend that money on books instead of postage fees.  There are other ways to support PBS.  I only use DC on bulk orders and game boosk (games require DC). 

I have time to go to the post office and I just plan my mailings into 1 weekly trip. The PBS postage is nice for the convenience but if I had to use printed postage all the time I'd probably get it through paypal because that extra .27/per transaction adds up quickly if you mail out a lot of books.  I'd keep stamps on hand for smaller books. 

I put my WL on hold when I get low on credits to need credits quickly is never an issue for me.  If I'm low I go on hold until I read and post some WL books.