Over the weekend I checked a couple of the books that have taken awhile to reach their intended destination and look like they will be marked lost soon.

Both of these were sent with PayPal postage and delivery confirmation and I have the email receipts for the labels.

The USPS tracking system says one is being returned to me for an insufficient address. I have PM'd the requestor for her address and it looks just like the one I used on the package.

The other says it was delivered on 7 August to zip code 90537. The zip code it's supposed to go to is 10537. The zip code database says 90537 is an invalid zip code. It is only one digit different from the correct zip code, so did the bar code reader make a mistake?

What, if anything, can I do to get these items to their requestors?

The one that is coming back to you, if you confirm, when you look at it that it is the correct address - Take it to your post office and ask them to mail it undercover to the postmaster of the office it was going to. There should be a form they can fill out that states "mailer states address is correct, please check" (or something of that nature). I cannot remember the number of the form, but will look at work today . Edited to add --- the form is 3555

The other one has me stymied, the delivery scan zip code should come from the scanner, not the piece of mail. So I don't get how the delivery zip code could be an incorrect, but it obviously is. You could also take that DC number to your post office and ask them to look it up. The tracking on the internal system gives a little bit more information than the customer tracking. I think that our tracking gives the names of the cities and not just the zip. If the system is saying it was delivered, then that one may be harder to get back, or it may just have been scanned with the wrong function and actually be on the way back to you.

I talked to the post office here, who checked the scan history on the 10537/90537 package.

It was scanned received on 7 August at 8:42 a.m. at 10537. It was scanned delivered 7 minutes later at 90537.

The requestor has asked her post office about it and they say it's been delivered to her. She says not, so it's somewhere else. My guess in the post office somewhere, considering the timing of the two scans. She thinks it went to another household that hasn't returned it, as she receives mail for other people often.

She's marked the book received so I'll get the credit for it, which is quite kind of her, but she still doesn't have the book.

The other problem package my post office validated as a correct address and they have no idea where the book is or why it was rejected by the delivering post office.

Any suggestions to pursue either of these welcome, although I think I've run out of options.

Well, for those of you who are interested, the package marked undeliverable *finally* showed up at my house Friday.

I see exactly what the problem was: The suite number was not on the mailing label, so no of course the package couldn't have been delivered in an office building without the company name.

What I don't understand is why the suite number appears on my receipt for the PayPal postage label but not on the label itself. That's never happened before but I guess I'll be checking the printed labels more carefully in the future.

I've popped the book in a Priority flat rate envelope and re-addressed it, and hopefully this time the book will arrive as intended.

The other book has never surfaced.

Hi I am having a similar problem and I am looking for some help.  Here is my problem with a little background info.  I organized a box o books relay.  Everything was going fine with it until it got to one of the participants near the end of the line.  Patti sent it to Ali who tells me she never recieved it and I have Patti's confirmation number that it got sent and arrived at the destination but Ali says it never came and she had been home.  Then Ali was supposed to send it to me. 

Any ideas if the post office stole the package? Because with all the security my husband's luggage got cut into and mine did not.  I am wondering if anyone has any problems sending a box of many paperbacks at one time where the po feels they have to open the box up to  check they are books.

Your Friend,

Mel

Two questions for you Melanie.  1.  Why would the PO steal a box of used paperback books?  In fact, how would an employee even do that?  Do you think we can just grab boxes and walk around with them or out the door?  Sorry, it doesn't work that way.  My point is that between the security in place to protect mail and the pay, bennefits, and retirement at risk an employee isn't going to do that. 

2.  What is a box of books relay?  I'm not into BOBs and this is the first time I've heard this term and I'm just currious.

If the boxes was sent DC and scanned "delivered" then it was delivered.  What does happen from time to time is it gets delivered to the wrong address.  Have her contact the local PO with the DC info printed out from the PO's web site.  It will include a scanner ID and perhaps they can figure out what happened.

Sorry for the problem you're having with this.

Hi Steve-

Ok to answer your question a box o books relay is when one person sends a bunch of paperbacks to a bunch of people and they take out what they want and replace the books they don't want. Then send it to the next person in line until the box gets sent back to the first person.  (A->B->C and etc.) Think of a track relay with a baton but instead you use books.  I have resigned myself to the fact I am never seeing that package again.

Your Friend,

Mel

Thank you for explaining it, like I said I've never heard the term before.  How does this work on credits, etc?  My guess is credits must work differently on BOBs then on individual books, right?

BOB swaps don't involve any credits. There is an annual fee to participate, then it's up to the swappers to determine what changes hands.

Your BoB Relay sounds exactly like the Round Robin letters my great-aunts used to use.  Now there is only one great aunt AND email so no more Round Robin.

My apartment building (6 apartments at my street door) has a label from USPS stuck above our mailboxes that the carrier scans when he delivers something needing to be scanned (DC, etc).  I would imagine that all the main entrances to apartments in my neighborhood have the same labels for their addresses.

When I put my address in for Carrier Pick Up on the USPS website, it always changes my address to the address USPS uses.  It's nothing more than putting the apartment number, with no punctuation, after the street address rather than on the second line.  Maybe this is why the one package had the correct address but couldn't be delivered -- or the PayPal postage didn't print the suite number.

This is true Scott K. however on www.bookcrossing.com I partocipated in this kind of relay for mystery and thrillers.  There was no fee for that except for mailing the box.  I decided to do the exact same thing here so that non-box o book members and my friends on other sites could participate that way it would be fair for everyone.  But yes normaly that is a pay service and it is worth every penny.

Your Friend,

Mel

Scott, some of us are in a cozy box swap with credits sent to the hostess of the game, who forwards them to the games mod. This is an on-going game and our credits are held until we decide to drop out, then they'll be returned. This isn't a box-of-books transaction which is what you've explained.

We 'gamers' are a very inventive group!   =)

My box o books relay is a lttle different because more than 1 person is involved.  Also the participants pick what number of books they want and then replace that number of their books.  Then it is sent on to the next person and so on until the first person gets it.  Not to mention there are no credits used up.  (like box o books)  I wanted to do it this way because I had friends on this site that fell into both categories.

Happy Reading from Your Friend,

Mel