I know there is a date that a book should be recieved by but I'm wondering how long it usually takes realistically.  I've never had a book take longer than a week until now but I have two books that I mailed two weeks ago and neither has been marked recieved.  Any suggestions on what I should do?  Wait or pm?  Thanks for the help! :o)

I would wait, seems likes the time it takes to get where it's going varies from time to time. I think  usual time is about 2-3 weeks unless it doesn't have very far to go and then it takes a week- week and half.

It depends on whether you sent the books First Class or Media Mail.  First class usually at most is 5 days, Media can take 2-3 weeks.  If it was me, I would pm the sender asking if they have received the book.  Sometimes people just forget to mark them received.

Look under "community" then "pulse of pbs."  At the bottom there's a neat little doohicky showing average mailing time between 2 points. 

The receiver will be getting e-mails from PBS asking if the book has been received yet, too.

I rarely have a book take longer than 10 days by media mail. Personally I start getting antsy after 2 weeks because in all the books I've sent I might have had two or three take that long and that includes coast to coast books as well. In contrast I had a book take 9 days to 100 miles. Figure that one out! :)  

You know it just depends.  I've had books get from WA to the east coast in a week going media mail. And I've had books take 3wks to get to me or vice versa.  I received a book the other day that only took 4 days MM to go from AL to WA.  But I have 4 books that Mailed over a week ago 1st class that still haven't been marked received.  That's why they give like a months time before a book gets marked "lost".

Most books coming to and going from me seem to take about 7 to 10 days.  But, in my year and a half here, I have had a few in both directions take significantly longer, some the full time (coming in a day under the "lost" wire).  Also, the slow deliveries tend to run in spurts.  I've never PMed about it; I've just figured that some take longer than others.

Most of my books are received within a couple weeks, HOWEVER, when I first started with PBS, it seemed like books took 3 weeks or more.  Because that was my inital experience, I am never surprised when books take between 3-4 weeks to arrive.  So, I never ever PM until I get the email that says "your book has been lost in the mail."  Which, by the way, has happened twice and both books eventually showed up at the destination.  On both occasions, the books took 5 weeks to get where they were going.  Just remember:  Media mail is the slowest way to mail, which is why it is the cheapest.  I think sometimes we get lucky and they get there quickly, but don't be suprised when that doesn't happen.

I think it also varies a lot based on the time of year. Books sent this summer were ariiving in 1 week or less; in December, it takes a lot longer. I think I average ~2 weeks, 'tho the "Pulse" page says less for Los Angeles...

You should not PM becaue you are actually saying "I think you have received my book, and are not marking it received?" You can talk as sweetly and nicely as you want. but you know the saying that actions speak louder than words...

There is no way you should PM them before the system says to. First of all, the system automatically sends them at least 2 before the lapse date, yours would make a 3rd one. They are liable to start getting annoyed. JMHO but simply let the system do it's job it will remind them to mark it mailed. And remember, many books not only take their full 26 days, some even come a day or to after the lost date, that's why there is the ability to mark a lost book received, it happens often enough for there to be a solution in place :)

i ordered a book about 3 weeks ago from someone who lives about 45 min away from me. for whatever reason the book still has not gotten to me yet. I'm assuming it's gotten lost but i'm trying to be hopeful.

the person who sent it however keeps PMing asking me to mark the book received if i've gotten it. each time i reply politely that I have not received it but I will do so as soon as I get the book. I don't know why she doesn't believe me that I still have not  gotten the book. It's not my fault if it got lost. She didnt use DC so I know she'll be out of a credit, but it just keeps bugging me that that she thinks I'll get the book and not credit her.

Give it the full amount of time allowed by the system, because sometimes it does take that long. The system will start sending messages to the recipient near the end of the time, asking whether the book was received, so there's really no need to add to that.