Carolyn's comments (member since Sep 12, 2008)

Carolyn's comments from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die group.

But Tom, you can call it free if the choice to print postage and/or DC is purely voluntary.
The operators are NOT "making a percentage off every book.", as you state, because many of the book transactions are NOT made using their postage or DC system. If PBS was forcing people to use their system to purchase postage (with it's attendant fees) in order to participate in the site, then yes, that would be 'hidden fees' and not a free system. They could easily implement this, but they don't. In addition, the vast majority of the functions of the site are 100% free (access to the database, wish lists, reminder lists, tracking, custom printed mailing labels, email notifications, forums, etc.)

You're right that I didn't count in the fee to deposit money in your PBS account in order to print the postage. But your accounting is still very specific to that one example - if you had deposited a larger sum of money in your account, you would pay a much smaller piece of it into sending each book. Economies of scale, ya know?

Personally, I have no problem whatsoever with PBS tacking such a small service fee onto each electronic transaction - costs them $$ to do an EFT in the first place, and it's a flat fee, regardless of how much you transfer, not a percentage (like many banks or credit cards charge.)

So, a fee to do an EFT, regardless of how much it's for, then another very small fee to use the interface with the Post Office systems to print the postage. (Custom-built software based on ground-breaking agreements with the Post Office - don't you think they might want to recoup some cost for such a specialized service?)

Even with your example, at 76 cents for a $2.24 mailing, you are paying pretty much the same as for if you had gone into the post office, when they are open, and standing in line - but you get the big time savings of not having to do that post office stop. If your time & the convenience aren't worth that small sum, then you don't have to use those services.

Personally, I don't use the PBS postage or DC system myself. I work across the street from a post office and generally don't bother with DC when sending books. But that's me - you are free to choose to use these services or not, and while you get a LOT for free with PBS, I don't feel that they should have to do everything for free for you, especially if they incur a cost.

Since all fees are spelled out before any transaction, they aren't exactly 'hidden' either. You make the PBS folks sound so nefarious! = )

Overall, I've found PBS to be an excellent site and continue to highly recommend it.

Tom wrote: "There are some serious problems with PBS that are not generally discussed. For example, it costs 50-cents to buy postage to mail a book. So if you buy $4.42 to mail 2 books at mediamail rate, that's more than 10% carrying charge - which is excessive. The system is built to give those who buy postage from PBS the advantage, since you automaticaly get credit for mailing a book with PBS postage. I've sent books with my own postage and not gotten credit for them. I've also requested books and not received them. It's a great concept but there are flaws that you need to be aware of."

Actually, Tom, there are flaws in every system that uses the public mail. I'm sorry you've had poor experiences, but I haven't had those problems, and I've used the site for well over 2 years now. I'm also quite aware of the minimal potential for such, but I find it a more than acceptable risk/benefit.

As for the cost, if you have a problem with the cost to use the online system to buy postage, then you might want to check your math. You can get delivery confirmation for 65 to 75 cents at the post office, which hooks you into the same system that gives you automatic credit that PBS is charging less than that for. So I'm not sure where you're getting that the charge is 'excessive' - it is less than the cost you would pay at the post office.

I'm looking at the cost screen right now for a book I need to mail out. Here's the options:

-Print Postage and Delivery Confirmation: (Fee=$.43, DC=$.18) (TOTAL = $.61 + actual postage)
-Print only Delivery Confirmation: (Fee=$.27, DC=$.18) (TOTAL = $.45)
-No Extra Services, print personalized wrapper: (FREE)

So, if you use the PBS online postage system, you get delivery confirmation built into it and pay LESS THAN the amount you would if you bought the postage and delivery confirmation at the post office.
That's no 'hidden cost' - that is a discount on the delivery confirmation and an extremely cheap service to print out your postage without going near a post office or having to wait in line!

As for sending your books with your own postage, a simple purchase of delivery confirmation at the post office OR using the PBSWAP option of "Print with DC only" would have given you the same chance at automatic credit as any other PBS user. (Might want to try it.)

While requesting books and not recieving them may be a bit frustrating, since the system is set up so that it doesn't cost you any credits or take you out of your spot on the queue, I fail to see that as a big deal. Sooner or later that book will come up and be available again.

As I said above, any system using the US Post Office as its delivery service will have some problems (based on the carrier, not the system), but the percentage of those problems are pretty minuscule compared to the number of transactions overall.

The benefits of participating in a system like PBSWAP for free is worth it to me, I'm sorry if you don't feel the same.

Serena, my library has all the same features as well, which is one reason I'm a huge library-book reader. Ditto with the e-book features, though I'm not a convert to those.

I primarily use PBS to pick up copies of books that I want to keep, I've usually read it already from the library. = )

I highly recommend PaperbackSwap!

I've used it for several years now, and like the previous poster, costs nothing but the price of postage to mail your books out. You then get credits and can 'spend' them to get books from the database. When you first sign up you get several free credits to 'spend' (if you decide to sign up, please let them know that userID 'seeford' referred you. = ) You can specify whether you want paperbacks, hardcovers or audio books, which is nice as well.

All the convenience of through the mail tied to an absolutely huge database of books - for FREE!
I love the Wishlist and Reminder List capability as well, before I found GoodReads, PBS was my primary book site (it has forums, reviews, etc.) The system is highly automated and emails you when books you've wishlisted are available with reminders, and creates a customized mailing wrapper for each book.

Also, if you like PBS, you may also be interested in it's sister sites: DVDswap and/or CDswap - both are run along similar lines.

From the Brooklyn Arden blog, a rap based on the song "Baby Got Back" by Sir MixALot: "Baby Got Book"
Very funny!
Read it here:
http://chavelaque.blogspot.com/2008/04/b...