Ok here is the story:

I requested a book. It was a pretty large text-book sized paperback, that has been on my WL for a LONG time.

The sender marked it mailed. Then later PMed me and said, "I sure hope it arrives ok. I wrapped it in news paper, let me know if it doesn't cuz I can get my hands on another book."

Ok... little red flag going up.

A few days later I get a letter from the US Postal Service. They found an empty package addressed to me, all tore up. They sent me a form to fill out which asks what the item was, etc. The idea is they may find this book and be able to send it to me. BUT they want the Return Address, since apparently that was lost when the package was tore up.

Now I KNOW this is the book I ordered cuz they sent a scrap from the package... the part with my address on it. Sure enough, News Paper. And not even particularly thick or well taped news paper.

So I PMed the sender cuz I can't figure out how to get the return address. I tried to be very polite and explained what happened. No reply.

PLUS I just noticed that they had written the WRONG address. I live on 16th they put 18th. Its a wonder the thing got to me anyway. (By now you must get that they DIDN'T use the PBS wrapper or anything, otherwise the address would've been correct)

So.... I have not marked the book recieved cuz I haven't got a book. It is lost somewhere in the PO. And the Sender has not gotten back to me and it has been 2 days. So here are my questions:

What should I do?

And If I just let the date on the "mark recieved by" what will happen? Will I get my credit back? Or will the book just be lost and I lose a credit and a book? How does that work?

Never had this happen to me before. I am trying to be patient, but what should I do?

This isn't your exact situation, but I think it fits pretty closely.

From the Help Center:

• The sender should call 800-ASK-USPS or go to https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MLNtRcvd.aspx  and input the information online there. This will help USPS try to recover the book.

  • The form is titled "mail Theft"; this does not mean that you can use it only if you think the book was stolen.  "Received without contents" is an option on the page.
  • The choice to make under "Class" on the form if Media Mail was used is "Parcel Post".

• If you think that the Wrapping method may have contributed to the loss of the book, please do give (gentle) feedback to the sender; you can refer to All Help documents about bookwrapping if you like. 

• If you have marked the book received by mistake (or if the system marked the book received for you while you were absent from PBS), you can also discuss this with the sender, who got credit when that happened.

Marsha beat me to it!

As she says, with regards to PBS, just hang tight. The system will mark it lost, you'll get your credit back AND the book will automatically be put back on your Wishlist. If the original sender has another copy and posts it then, I'd think you should get it.

Good luck!

Thank you SO much! I feel better now. :) I appreciate it.