I know this could happen, I just wonder who has actually had it happen.  I guess it could happen with delayed mailings.  But two of the books that have gone lost on the way to me were with DC, so I when they were mailed.  Smothing seems to happen to books in Greensboro NC...............

Yes Margaret, books do occassionally arrived after going "lost".  Members have reported receiving them just a day or two later (inc. Alaska, Hawaii, PR, etc.) up to even a year later.  Some of the large sorting centers seem to have streaks of problems, Bell (CA) is famous for delays, and for awhile Warrendale (PA) lost alot of books, could be NC's turn.  Or, it could be weather related.  Remember some of these areas are experiencing severe winter weather, even areas that usually do not have cold winters.

ETA - Also, you can take your DC numbers to the post office and ask for information.  If they notice a pattern of problems at Greensboro, they could call that facility and check for problems . . . aka 'rattle their cage'.

I haven't. One was scanned as delivered but it must have been delivered to the wrong house because I never got the book. 

I hosted a game over a year ago and one of the books went lost.  It got stuck in Bell CA.  The sender gave the recipient a credit even though she didn't have to since we could see the book had been mailed. (DC is required on game books).  Over a year later, I get a PM from the sender saying that the book had finally been delivered.  It must have fallen behind or under something or go stuck somewhere and forgotten.

Yes, Margaret, I have gotten books up to six weeks after going lost that had been mailed when they said they did -- obviously they had been languishing in the bottom of a mailbag somewhere. But more often, when they arrive after going lost I find they had just been recently mailed.

Haven't received one but a book that I sent out in early November just got received a few weeks ago (the receiver was even nice enough to give me a credit for it even though both of us had written off the book and I hadn't asked for the credit).  Does make you wonder (I had filled out the lost mail form) where it had been for the past three months though.

I had one recently that went lost but the sender didn't mail it until 3 days after PBS declared it lost.

Another one which is supposed to be on its way went lost by PBS, but the sender said she forgot to send it, was sick, but had sent it (don't know when though), and that was nearly 2 weeks ago. 

However, having said all that a couple of years ago I mailed a book to Oklahoma, when I said I did..  PBS declared it lost and 2 weeks later the requester marked it received.

I've also had a couple of times when PBS marked a book coming to me lost, (over 6 months lost) and when I went to say something to the requester about it finally arriving, found that PBS had sent me the credit and the account of the requester had been closed.    Pat

I received one over 4 months after the lost date.  It was scanned as entering a hub and didn't leave.  (Memphis, not Bell.)  The postage date was the original mailing date.  No damage.

Must have been some wild book party.  Whiskey and Elvis?

I have and it was mailed First Class and on time.  I got it about a month after it went lost.  I don't know how that happened.

This has happened to me more than once.  I live outside the Continental USA so it's not unheard of for a book to arrive here later than anticipated by PBS and the same thing happens when I mail books to people on the Mainland.

I just received credit yesterday for a book I had long given up on.  I mailed it on 12/1,  it was declared "lost" on 12/27 and just marked received yesterday (2/10).  I didn't use DC on it, so I have no idea where it's been or why it took so long, but it just goes to show there's always hope!

This has happened to me a couple of times, and it is very easy to go to your Transaction Archive and give the sender a credit for it.

I have to say, there are some features of this site that are very well thought out!

Frequently happened when I lived in Europe at an APO  address, they almost always came 7 days after the "lost" date.

I am still a new member (12/26/10), but I already experienced 6 books that were lost in mail.

It's probably because I am located outside of the continental U.S.

2 of the books arrived 1-2 weeks after its date, 1 book was sent back to the sender because of missing information.

I don't know what happened to the other 3, it's somewhere out there.

For some reason, I noticed, DVDs ship faster than books. What's the difference? Bleh.

Cheysser - most DVD's can be mailed first class, most books go media mail.  That is the difference.

This is happened to me both on recieving and sending.  I had a book that we had to time out in the system as it never got to me and a week later it did, no reason why it took over a month.  One I sent was marked unrecieved and then was recieved a while after as it turned out the post office delivered to a house down the block and that person just "forgot" to get it to the right place for a week.

I mailed a book on 2/2 - obviously not marked lost yet but am worried. All books sent that day and after have been received. Where do they disappear to?(nevermind...as I was typing this the book was marked received. )

I've received several books after they've been marked as "Lost" by the system.  I've been victim of the infamous Bell Black Hole (books disappearing for weeks in the Bell, CA postal distribution center), victim of books from non-continental US members (I expected the "Lost" book messages on these and am happy/grateful that this particular member likes to post my WL books, so am fine with the delay), victim of mis-delivery (delivered to neighbor who didn't let me know they'd received right away). 

Actually, very few of the books that have gone "Lost" have truly STAYED lost.  Most of them eventually have found their way to me...

I got a book that was never marked mailed from the sender. Had received a PM asking for credit anyway (before I got the book) cause she swears she DID mark it mailed. Replied that I would wait. It was a WL'd book, didn't want to lose my place in line in case it never showed up and would buddy the credit if it did.

The book that arrived was totally water damaged to the point that the back cover was bowed and there were wavy pages. PM'd the sender and told her I would not buddy a credit to her, then went to the transaction archive to report book finally got here but was damaged.

Much to my surprise, TPTB deducted a credit from my account and gave it to the sender. I know how that works but my thinking was because it had never been marked mailed and was listed as unresponsive account PLUS the fact that I reported it unpostable, I would not lose a credit.

Oh well.........I was trying to do the right thing by reporting the book received but it backfired. I know better now.

I had my first sent book lost. Was really bummed.

I've had it happen both with books coming to me and books I've sent out.  They weren't actually lost, just slow.  They can be marked received from your Transaction Archive and then the sender gets their credit.  The first time I experienced this was when I posted a bunch of cookbooks and one person ordered 6 or 7.  I sent them in a box, and it took them six weeks to travel 400 miles.  I think boxes sent Media Mail are the lowest of the low in USPS priority.  So of course I was bummed when the went "lost" but happy when they finally arrived to their new owner!

I mailed a Harry Potter book in November, literally a couple hours after accepting the request.  It went lost in the system and I was worried, had a good pmail rapport with the recipient, and it showed up about a week after it went lost.  I guess it stopped at a few too many holiday parties :).  She marked it as received, noted it was mailed on time, and we just chalked it up to the business at the end of the year.  I hope your situation gets worked out!