Lately I've had a few of my wish-list books become available from different people. I accepted all of them, but now...

1. One that has been marked mailed with DC, but it's been a solid two weeks and no book arrived or no progress via backdoor tracking that usually pops up with DC. (I know DC is not a reliable tracking method, and that it's still within the 26-or-so days before the system declares a book lost. But still... .)
2. A second book was cancelled by the system since the sender let my acceptance time out.
3. And the third seems to be on it's way to the fate of #2.

Hopefully this is just a short run of bad luck, but what's the deal? It's not just one incident. It feels like folks post these books out of the blue, and then ignore them immediately after. Wha? Why bother posting in the first place?

I have had the exact same circumstances within the last month with three different WL books from three different senders. It is frustrating to say the least! Especially when it is a WL book that gets posted about twice a year, I have waited years to get it, and then the poster lets it time out...waaaaaaa! I have also noticed a trend of people mailing books with DC and beyond the "electronic information received" or whatever that wording is, the book is never scanned and never arrives -- I know that lots of books are never scanned but...

I guess what I am saying is, I feel your pain, it isn't normally like this and when I see someone posting a book and then letting it time out and they have been an apparently active member for years, you just have to assume that LIFE got in the way of sending a book. These events do seem to come in bunches so lets just hope that we have had our group of three doomed WL requests and now things will go fine...

I sent out a WL book on November 3 and the person just received it YESTERDAY (with DC). My post office is a hideous black hole. Books sit and sit with nothing happening. It's getting worse, and likely getting worse all over.

I've had 2 WL books offered to me in the past week.  I quickly accept as I'm on a lot.  Then I wait...and wait...and wait.  The first one expired--no response from the member.  The second one is on it's way to the same fate.  I'm not sure why people post books if they aren't ready to send them out, either.  It's frustrating, but I know I'll eventually get them.

Could it be something beign? That they don't realize someone's request will time-out eventually. 'mI at peace with the fact that life-at-large sometimes intervenes, and I'm patient when it comes to the speed of mail. But this recent rash make me insatiously curious... what is going on on the other end? I accepted the very same day they posted. They must've posted for a reason? Obviously not to send it though. Is posting books somesort of statement? Ner, ner, look-what-I-have.

Sometimes people post books and they wait while it times out on the wisher's end.  Meanwhile, you're the 3rd wisher down the line and the sender's life has gotten busy.  The sender can't pull the book once it's in the wishlist waiting on requestors.  They have to wait for someone to accept.  They want the book out of the house, but...

Stuff happens on both ends of the transaction, even for good senders and receivers.

Dw, yes I've had this happen several times in the last two weeks.  OneWL was canceled with a No Comment in the Email. Why??? Why post and cancel. Don't you like me?  I checked the members profile and the account had been closed or suspended. I had ordered more books from this member as well.

It feels like I will either have nothing in my list moving at all, or a sudden flux of the majority of my inventory moving all at once!

I've also had several requests time out lately (3). 

Caviglia, you may wish to consider filing complaints to your regional postmaster...or someone above the local level.  It's my understanding that local post offices are not to leave any mail or packages inhouse overnight, if you mailed it today they are supposed to forward it today.  Sorting centers have different guidelines, but local branches are not supposed to hold outgoing mail, period.  If you have DC records of mail that appears to be held by your PO, forward those with the complaint.  You can also file complaints online, and we hear USPS is proactive to improve these types of issues.

I have had this happen too.  Why post a book if you can't respond within 5 days?  This happens all the time with me at CDswap.  I've had hard to find CD's posted for 3 years, suddenly somebody posts one and then it times out.  This happens so often, it makes me wonder.  I hate to sound cynical, but maybe there are people out there that will post phoney swaps to get the free credits.  Then their free books, CD, or DVD is on the way to them before their phoney swaps time out.

Meanwhile, you're the 3rd wisher down the line...

In all three of my cases, I was the first, if not only, person on the wishlist. So it's not that they've posted the books so long ago that they have forgotten about them. Then again, I can forget about stuff I just said 5 minutes ago.

Here's my theory of why people post books that they aren't ready to send ...

Every once in a while we get an influx of new members. Maybe there was something in a magazine or newspaper article about PBS, or maybe people are just cooped up indoors because of the cold weather and more are finding us. Whenever that happens, a lot of people join and post books without reading anything at all about how the site works.

Some of these people abandon their accounts; some ask to have them closed; some put in a fake email address so they aren't getting the request notices; some are in Canada and don't have a U.S. address they can use; some get discouraged because every book they search for is a current best-seller that is not currently available and they aren't going to send out a book if they can't get one in return; some only wanted the two free books and never intended to send out the books they posted.

There are also old experienced members who have something unexpected happen that keeps them away from the site, but I think the majority of it is newbies who just aren't following through for one of the reasons above.

I do have a stack of hardcover WL books to post this weekend (the latest Janet Evanovich, books 3 & 4 of Game of Thrones, as well as a couple of others.) I'll check the WLs of the people above this post, and I promise, if I post a book to you, it'll be in the mail before the postage goes up on Monday!