Hey, y'all!  I'm fairly new to all of this and I just started posting and trading around Sept. 15th.  On Sept. 17th I mailed 7 very well wrapped books-- all to people in 7 different states.  Everyone has received their books except for one person in California.  I am in South Carolina.  I mailed a book to someone else in another city in California and she received her book over well over a week ago.  I really want my credit but mostly I'm just curious---Is the mail this slow?  Has my book been lost?  Has the person who received it just failed to acknowledge?  I don't want to PM this person yet because I don't want to offend her.  She is probably waiting just like me.  Any ideas?  Thanks!

I know that in my experience, California and Texas seem to take the longest to reach their destination and it may depend on how large the post office is that deals with that persons mail. Right now I wouldn't worry about it not being recieved yet, there is still time for the person to mark it recieved. Even if it goes past the deadline, they can still mark in recieved.

I'm in Texas and have received everything very quickly and when I mailed books all have been received pretty quickly as well

It can take three days or thirty, no matter where you sent it. There's never any guarantee with Media Mail.

Near the end of the allotted time, PBS will automatically start sending emails to the recipient asking if s/he has received the book, so there's no need for the sender to start sending PMs asking the same question.

I'm in Georgia and the books I've sent that have taken the longest to get to their destination usually were going to California.  Since it's only been about two weeks, I wouldn't worry yet.

Thanks, everybody!  I knew I would learn something from all of you who are more experienced with this.  Happy Reading to all!

If you send books to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands they sometimes take a very long time.  There are not a large # of members there, but there are a few and I have sent to all of them----sometimes taking a long time and having to be "resurrected" out of the "lost in the mail" file.  I think Alaska is the worst of that lot---maybe it's weather or the season of the year.

Not to fear, everyone!  Whew!  What a relief!  The California member received her book and marked it received last night.  I guess I can call off the search party for the book. LOL.  This is an interesting waiting game though.  Since I'm in SC, I love when I see a book coming from North Carolina or Georgia b/c I know it will just take a couple of days.  Most of mine, though, come from places far, far away...the kind of places I've only read about in books...

It is wierd how it takes just a few days or a few weeks.  Just last week (maybe 2 weeks ago), I had my mom drop off a few books at the PO, and they were both marked received only 2 days later.  There have been times that it's been 3 weeks, and that was just going from here in eastern Alalbama to the Atlanta, GA area

Media mail in never predictable - most of mine (to and from) have taken 6-10 days, but I rec'd one from the East Coast in 3 days (I'm in San Diego, CA), while one from Lancaster, CA (just east of Los Angeles) took 5 weeks!!

It tends to depend on the distribution centers the mail goes through. Warrendale, PA, Atlanta, GA, Bell, CA, and I know there is also one in the northern midwest - all have very bad reputations for holding media mail for long periods of time. Warrendale is actually known as the media mail "black hole." If you use PBS DC, you can actually watch how many days your package sits in a distribution center.

That is exactly WHY a book doesn't go "lost" for a month and why we should NOT be PMing anyone until that month is up.   It's built into the system for a reason - the reason is that there is NO way to tell how long it will take a book to get from one place to another.    I know that as we get closer to the holidays it will take longer and longer for our media mail to get to their new homes.   Priority and parcel post have priority over our media mail.     Sometimes we just need to take a deep breath and not WORRY so soon!  lol    Easier said than done, I know.

I've had a problem with California too...1 book is considered lost right now and 2 more are within a few days of going lost.  It doesn't seem to matter if I'm sending or receiving.  I usually PM the person and let them know that CA is slower for me and I don't immediately reorder a "lost" book.  By far, it's the longest I normally have to wait.

Just a side note--IN and IL are always fast for me (I'm in Arkansas)  I can get books to IL faster than I can get them one state over.  Go figure. 

I had one book I sent to California never show up(and I'm in Arizona, it's not like it's that far).  I think the average for cross country for me has been about 16 days.