I just received a book that went lost in the mail a while ago. The postmark was over 20 days late, too. But the confusion comes in that the book is clearly not postable at all. The cover is incredibly worn with a small rip near the spine and someone's (a kid's, presumably) name etched into the cover, the book is warped in ways I didn't know a book could be, the illustrations are colored in and a water stain on a few pages near the front.

The question is, is it worth it to mark it received and haggle for my credit back or should I just toss it into the recycle bin and forget about it since I already got my credit back from the book going lost?

IMO since you received your credit back and the thing is clearly unpostable I think I'd toss it and forget it.

Others may say a lot of different things but to me that's the no hassle way to go and I'm for no hassle! 

Personally I WOULD mark it RWAP--if no one ever says anything about these people who a) mail 3 weeks after they've marked it mailed and b) send crappy, clearly unpostable books, those people will just carry on doing that again and PBS will never know.

I would mark it received, RWAP, AND note that it was mailed late. I would ask for the credit back (because when you mark it received, the system is going to take your credit again) and if you need to, take a picture or two of the book as evidence to its condition. The book is unpostable on many levels--while it may end up costing you a credit if they won't return it, and it's probably easier for you just to toss it and forget it, please don't let them get away with it!

Hopefully the next person who gets a crappy book from that person won't be Geri! LOL (I'm a big believer in karma....)

Cheryl

*There is an exception for late-mailed books:

• If a book was mailed more than 2 weeks late without notice to you about late mailing before it was mailed and
• was already declared Lost at PBS before it arrives, and
• you re-requested the book after it was declared "lost in the mail"  and
• you end up with 2 copies, THEN
• you do not have to mark the late-mailed-without-notice copy received.

This is from the help docs under "I received 2 copies of the same book."

This happened to me, and I didn't mark the very late one as received. 

I do believe according to guidelines if you have not received another book you are Required to mark the book received and in this case RWAP.  Remember that a "Postmark" is not an accurate means of  judging when a book is mailed....only Postal Printed Postage as the Postmark can be stamped anywhere, anytime along the route.

I would mark it RWAP, and note the postmark/postage date.  This will allow PBS admin to decide if the other member is establishing a history of mailing late & RWAP.  If PBS doesn't know this member is a problem, they can't fix it :-)