Most people on PBS are great. They understand the rules, and they take good care of their books. But I just received *another* water damaged book, and this time, I put my foot down.

You don't send water-damaged books, **ever**. I don't care if it's just a water spot on the hard cover. I've had some great books with long waiting lists that had water damage, and I didn't post them! I've sent books that got water damaged, despite carefully wrapping them in plastic bags before I sent them out, and I have credited the receiver for something the post office did (and I felt awful about it anyway).

But why, why, why do people still list and send out water damaged books? And what's a good way to gently slap them on the hands for disregarding one of the primary rules of the club? I typed the message over about four times, trying to be firm but not mean. ARGH!!!

I hope you marked it RWAP. I would also include a link to the rules regarding postability in the part where you describe the damage- I think the sender gets those. I'm not sure about that but I'm hopeful that another PBSer can clarify that.

"Thank you for sending X book.  I am so sorry to have to mark it RWAP (Received With A Problem), but unfortunately the book has water damage (describe damage here), which makes it unpostable according to PBS posting rules.  The packaging is dry and intact, so the damage did not occur in transit.  I would appreciate a refund of my credit, as I will not be able to repost this book.  I would be happy to return the book to you if you would like to cover postage with an additional credit.  I would appreciate a response from you by X date so that I may mark this transaction as resolved in the PBS system.  Thank you for understanding and resolving this problem transaction promptly."

Great message, Lesley. :)

I think it's good policy to always mark unpostable books RWAP by sender...if you don't let them know what happened, they'll never learn! So put your foot down as many times as you want Ingrid! It's for the best of all of us, PBS users. :)

Personally I think they do it because they think they can get away with it and the only way to show them they can't is to mark it RWAP. Now I know that sometimes it's an honest mistake, and for the sake of diplomacy I usually try to give them the benefit of the doubt. But I've received one book that was actually growing mold and a few others where it just couldn't have been missed.