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DEAR R&R: Newsletter – January 2007

Monday, January 1st, 2007

Dear R&R—I need to give a credit to another member. I searched the Member Directory for her name, and put her on my Buddy List, and gave the credit. She says she never got it! What happened??? –Creditless in Chicago

Dear Chic,
You gave the credit to the wrong member. Searching the Member Directory by name will not always turn up the member you are seeking. Many members have the same first name and last initial; a member will not appear in the Directory at all if she hasn’t chosen to make a public profile.

A foolproof way to do this is to follow the instructions in the Help Center item “How do I add someone to my Buddy List?” (Search the Help Center using the words Buddy List to find this item), which tell you how to click the member’s highlighted name (in the To: or From: field of a Personal Message, for example) to be taken to his or her profile or bookshelf, either of which will have the “Add Buddy” button. Click that button to add the member to your Buddy List. Then you can give the credit using the Buddy List crediting feature, as explained in the Help Center item “How do I give credits to other members?” (in the Quick Help box on the right side of the Help Center page, among other places in the Help Center).

Dear R&R—I requested a book from another member, who apparently read my Requestor Conditions wrong. My conditions say “I only want hardcovers if they have their dustjackets”, but this was a paperback book! I have no conditions for paperbacks. She declined the request! How do I get this book from her? –Frantic in Phoenix

Dear Franny,

Bottom line: you can’t. If the sender declined your request by clicking “My book does not meet these conditions”, then you will not be able to re-request that copy of the book from her. You can contact her from your Canceled Transaction list (linked from the top of your Transactions Archive page), if you want to explain to her that she read your Requestor Conditions wrong.

It is very important to word your Requestor Conditions as clearly as possible for this reason: once the book is declined, you will not be able to get this copy. If you have Requestor Conditions on your account, review them (in your Account Settings) to make sure that they reflect exactly what you mean. In your case, Fran, the sender may have read only as far as “I am only willing to accept hardcovers…” before she clicked to decline. Yes, that’s her error, but you can’t eliminate human mistakes! Everyone makes them sometimes. The best you can do is prevent them as much as possible, by wording your Requestor Conditions as clearly and unambiguously as possible.

We suggest that all members read the Help Center item “What are Requestor Conditions and how do they work?” (under “Account Options” in the Help Center; also accessible by searching the Help Center for the phrase “Requestor Conditions”), to learn how this feature works from both the sender and the requestor’s point of view.

Sorry, Franny, you will have to wait until another copy of the book is posted into the system.

Dear R&R—My Requestor Conditions say “I don’t want books that have been around pets. If you have any questions, PM me.” Are those conditions OK? –Quizzical in Queens

Dear Quiz,

Actually, no. Your Conditions should NOT ask members to PM you to ask for more details. The Conditions should be clearly interpretable by themselves, without added PM communication. The reason for this is that the sender may think declining is the first step toward further negotiation/discussion about this book. Once declined, the book can’t be re-requested by you! So if you MUST have something like this in your Requestor Conditions, it should be worded as “If you have any questions, please ACCEPT my request and send me a Personal Message. If you decline this request, I won’t be allowed to request the book from you!”

Dear R&R –My printer broke! Can I still send books? –Inkjetless in Indiana

Dear Inkless,

Of course you can! You don’t need a printer to get the address to send your books. You can download the .pdf file without printing it, and hand-copy the address onto your package; if you have trouble downloading the file, you can simply click the link to the Backup Wrapper that is on the Wrapper Settings page. This will take you to a webpage on which the address will appear, and you can hand-copy it from there. Detailed instructions are available in the Help Center item “I can’t print my wrapper!” and “Can I hand-write the address to send a book?” in the Quick Help box on the right side of the Help Center page.

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DEAR R&R: Newsletter – December 2006

Friday, December 1st, 2006

Dear R&R—I made a Box-O-Books swap with another Boxer, and we both agreed to the swap. I sent off my books, but the other Boxer now says she doesn’t have some of the books I wanted (and that she agreed to send me)!!! I am so annoyed. Why did she say she could send them if she couldn’t?—Livid in Leominster

Dear Livvy,

We sympathize with your frustration. We know this happens for various reasons–a Boxer intends to send the books you asked for, but then after accepting finds that she does not have all of them. Maybe she lent one to a friend, and forgot to remove it from her bookshelf; maybe her little one spilled grape juice on another. Or she included it in another pending Box-O-Books swap, and forgot that she had done that. If you can’t find any books on her shelf that you want in place of the books she promised you, she should offer you credits for the missing books.

Boxers can use one of two easy strategies to keep track of the books included in their pending Box-O-Books offers:

  1. Use Book Journal. Some Boxers (especially those with lots of books and lots of swaps!) are creating a “space” called “BOB-requested books” and moving books there when they are requested in a Box-O-Books offer. Then if you get another request for a book, you can see if it is already involved in a pending swap at a glance, by checking that Book Journal space. If a book is requested for credit, the Book Journal “space” in which you have put it comes up on the request itself, so this is very easy. (We are considering adding the Book Journal “spaces” to the books requested in a Box-O-Books offer, but we have to work out the programming.) Click “Book Journal” in the left menu of any page on the site to check out this feature–you can try a seven-day free trial, to see if it works for you.
  2. Use the “Notes” feature on your Books I’ve Read list. Click the diamond beside any book title in that list to add a note: no one will see these notes but you. You can check your Books I’ve read list when a new Box-O-Books offer comes in, to see if you have noted it being requested in another pending swap. Books you post (or repost) are added to your Books I’ve Read list automatically when you post (or repost) them (you can uncheck the option for this at the time of posting, but they are included by default), so you do not have to add them to that list manually. You can find the Books I’ve Read list in the dropdown menu from Book Lists on the right side of your account page.

But the sure-fire way to avoid this kind of disappointment is for each Boxer to make sure that she or he has the books being requested in a Box-O-Books swap, and that they are in good condition BEFORE clicking to accept the swap. We recommend getting the requested books together and flipping through them to be sure all is well before clicking “accept” on the swap. Then package the books up and send them! If a sender has trouble with this on a regular basis (if she finds herself writing to several Boxers apologizing for not having the books she has promised), she should try Book Journal to see if it will help her keep things straight. It may make all the difference! If she is able to send out all the promised books, she won’t have to dole out her credits in future to Boxers she has “welched” on. We all know how precious credits are, especially when a Wish List book comes up!

Dear R&R—I sent the wrong book to a member and now I can’t find the transaction! Where do my past swaps go? –Befuddled in Boise

Dear Beef,

Your past swaps are archived in various places:

  1. Completed swaps (completed without a problem) are in your Completed Transactions list. Log into your account, click Transactions Archive on the right, and scroll down the list there. You can sort the list by incoming and outgoing books, and ascending/descending by date.
  2. Canceled swaps (that you, the other member, or the system canceled) are available in your Canceled Transactions List, from a link at the top of your Transactions Archive page (see above). Your problem swaps will be here too!
  3. “Problem” swaps (transactions marked “received but with a problem”, such as Wrong Book, Damaged Book, Damaged by USPS, or Requestor Conditions Violation) are also in your Canceled Transactions list. That doesn’t mean that the sender didn’t earn a credit when the book was marked “received, but with a problem”—that’s just where problem transactions are archived. Problem transactions won’t show up on the map of your completed transactions.
  4. “Lost in the Mail” –you can see all of your Lost in the Mail books (sent by you or to you) by logging into your account and clicking “Lost in Mail” in the right menu. Each incoming “lost” book will have a button on it “Was Book Received?” so that it can be marked received from there easily.

So if the requestor marked your book “received, but with a problem” and chose “Wrong Book” that transaction will be in your Canceled Transactions list, available from a link at the top of your Transactions Archive page. This information is also in the Help Center: search using the words “past swaps” (or just “swaps”) to find the item “Can I see my past swaps?”

Dear R&R—I have a book that’s still readable, but its pages are kinda wrinkly. It’s on a ton of Wish Lists. Can I post it for swapping? –Hopeful in Hackensack

Dear Hope,

I am sorry: no, you can’t post this book. “Wrinkly” (not folded or dogeared) pages are a sign of water damage, and water-damaged books are prohibited on PBS. It is not that the books aren’t readable; it is that water-damaged books can carry mold spores, and these can spread and infect a library. If your book is on a Wish List, you can always advertise it in the Book Bazaar Discussion Forum as a “damaged book”, with a description of the condition, and send it out for free (or as a “perk” with another book ordered for credit from your bookshelf) to another member.

Even though PBS is a used-bookswapping site, and not a “collectible” bookswapping site or a “giftable” bookswapping site, all books at PBS must meet certain standards, and none may have evidence of damage from liquid of any kind. The Help Center items “Book Condition” and “What can be swapped here?” under the heading “Posting Books” in the Help Center have guidelines for posting books. Each time a member posts a book, she or he must confirm, that the book has no damage from water (or other liquid) and is in “good condition, and not excessively worn”. We have decided to make the PBS criteria for “good condition” more visible during the posting process. Now you don’t have to check the Help Center to see if a book you are thinking of posting is in acceptable condition. When you post a book, and you are asked to confirm that the book is in good condition, the phrase “good condition” appears with a dashed line beneath it. The dashed underline means that it is a “keyphrase”, and information will pop up if you click it. In this case, the PBS description of “good condition” will pop up. Look for more dashed-underline “keywords” and “keyphrases” on PBS. We will apply them as needed, in various places on the site.

Hope, I am sure that you mean no harm when you want to post your wrinkly book; but “no water damage” means just that. Even if the book is readable, it can’t be posted to your PBS bookshelf.

Dear R&R—I am REALLY ANNOYED. I have a Wish List book offered to me, and I don’t have any credits, and I CAN’T GET TO THE REST OF MY ACCOUNT to mark some books mailed! WHY do you do this? It is really obnoxious! –Apoplectic in Ashtabula

Dear Poppy,

The force-reply wasn’t always a part of PBS. Before we put it in place, there was a real problem with members forgetting to respond to Wish List offers, or to requests submitted to their bookshelves, and this led to a lot of disappointment (and feedback to us, asking us to reinstate the offer or request). Wish List offers and book requests that have timed out can’t be reinstated—more disappointment. So we put the force-reply in place, and things have gone much more smoothly since then.

Since we instituted this feature, there have been many, many changes on the site, and we agree that the force-reply may need to be revised so that it doesn’t prevent important (even time-sensitive) account tasks such as marking outgoing books mailed. We are taking a look at this, and it may be possible in the future to allow limited access to your account (such as your active transactions) while an offer/request is pending. Be patient with us while we work out the programming.

We do recommend that those members who choose to make Wish Lists keep a small “cushion” of credits in their accounts (one or two) just for this situation—you can always purchase credits, of course, but if you don’t want to do that, this bit of forethought will solve your problem. You never know when a Wish List book will be offered to you!

If you have a time-sensitive task at hand (such as marking a book mailed) and you can’t get to your account, you should contact us as soon as possible, so that we can mark the book(s) mailed for you. We don’t want your transactions to cancel because of this situation! If they do, there will be no way to reinstate them, and canceled transactions don’t earn credits from the system.

Poppy, just tell us the title(s) of the books you are trying to mark mailed, and we will do this for you. In the meantime, we are working on a way to make the “force-reply” purely beneficial, and not obstructive, as it occasionally can be. I hope you can get your Wish List book before the offer “times out”!

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DEAR R&R: Newsletter – November 2006

Thursday, November 2nd, 2006

Dear R&R—I have a book that has only a 13-digit number in the front where the ISBN should be. The Help Center says I have to use the 10-digit number to post the book, but my book doesn’t have one! What gives? –Frazzled in Frisco

Dear Frazz,

The 10-digit ISBN will give way to the 13-digit ISBN (now known as the EAN) on January 1st, 2007. The book industry has made this choice in order to bring the U.S. ISBN system into line with the EAN system used in other world markets, and also to alleviate “numbering shortages”. Some publishers have already started to publish their books with the 13-digit EANs. They should be publishing with BOTH numbers to ease the transition, but some aren’t doing this, we hear. On January 1st, 2007, the EAN will become the ISBN, and the use of 10-digit ISBNs will be phased out in all aspects of the book industry. PBS will make this change too, at that time. Until then, you can convert your 13-digit EAN to a 10-digit ISBN using the information at this site, IF your book was assigned a 10-digit ISBN by the publisher: http://www.bisg.org/isbn-13/conversions.html (scroll down to see the portion under the heading “Retrieving the 10-digit ISBN….” ). If this doesn’t work (or is too complicated and you don’t want to mess with it), just post your book as if it does not have an ISBN (using the link beneath the graphic on the Post Books page). Or you can hang in there until January, when your book’s 13-digit ISBN should be in the database. If you worry that your book won’t be noticed if it is posted without an ISBN, you can always “advertise” it in the Book Bazaar. Doing so usually results in a quick request.

Transitions are tough, but the 13-digit ISBN promises to be a good thing once everyone has changed over. In this case, 13 should be considered a lucky number (but not until January 2007)!

Dear R&R—I joined PBS, and then moved, and now I can’t change my address in the Account Settings. Why is that? How can I request a book to be sent to my current address? — Bewildered in Boise

Dear Bee,

You probably haven’t received 3 books from PBS yet. Only after you receive 3 books from PBS will you have the option to change your address in your Account Settings. If you move, and need to change your address, but haven’t received 3 books yet, send us a note in Feedback with your current address and we will help. After you have received three books, you will need to “validate” your address, which is very easy to do—just visit your Account Settings and click the Update button at the bottom of the information in the top section. Your address will be converted to a USPS-validated address automatically. If there is a problem with validating your address, you can read the Help Center item “I can’t change my address in my account settings!” under the heading “Account Options”. There is a link in there to a site which can guide you in validating your address. USPS is very picky about how addresses appear—the change can be as simple as “LN” instead of “LANE”–and a “valid” USPS address is necessary in order to use Delivery Confirmation for that destination.

Dear R&R—I got a package postage-due. It was marked “First-Class Mail”! The sender had put only enough postage for Media Mail rate on the package. Arghh! –Reading too much in Alabama

Dear Bama,

Yes, Media Mail is the cheapest way to send your package if it weighs 6 ounces or more. The PBS Wrapper (and label) is marked MEDIA MAIL. But some of our members don’t have a printer, or their printer is malfunctioning, and they hand-write the addresses to send their books. Please give the sender feedback about this, so that she doesn’t send these “postage-due bombs” to other requestors. You can always refuse a postage-due item (and note the return address before you hand the package back to the mail carrier, so that you can send a PM to the sender letting her know what happened), or if the amount is significant enough, ask the sender to send you postage (or “buddy” you a credit) to compensate you. And be sure to indicate that the package arrived postage-due, on the mini-survey when marking the book received. If the sender makes a habit of this, we will contact her. I am sure it was just a mistake, and one that she will be eager to correct for future mailings.

Dear R&R—I got an email telling me that I mailed a book late! I swear I didn’t! Will this affect my swapping record at PBS? –Panicked in Pomona

Dear Mona,

The email you got was generated automatically when a requestor entered the postmark from a package received from you. Don’t panic! There are several reasons why you could have gotten this email even if you didn’t mail late:

  1. The requestor indicated the wrong date when marking the book received on the optional “mini-survey”
  2. You sent the book late BUT you had gotten the requestor’s consent to do this
  3. You put the book in your outgoing mailbox and it took a few days to get its postmark from USPS
  4. You sent the book on time, but it came back to you for some reason (insufficient postage, the hand-written address was wrong, etc). and you resent the book, which naturally arrived with the postmark of the resending date.

One report of a late-mailed book will not affect your account status. It is only if a pattern shows that we will take action, and ask you to change your habits.

PBS is dedicated to timely shipping, but the system is designed to be flexible. We understand that a delayed shipment can happen on occasion. As long as you keep the requestor informed (so she doesn’t re-order the book if it is declared Lost by PBS), an occasional late mailing is acceptable. It is ideal to get the requestor’s consent BEFORE a book is mailed late, but we also understand (and so do most requestors) that this is not always possible.

Please see the Help Center item “Can a book be sent later?” under the heading “Sending a Book” for a thorough discussion of this topic.

If you receive one of these emails, and you didn’t mail the book late, don’t worry about it. We won’t!

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DEAR R&R: Newsletter – October 2006

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006

Dear R&R—I got a book where the wrapper was taped to the book itself! Why do people do this? –Annoyed in Ann Arbor

Dear Ann,

We don’t know. Nothing should ever be taped to a book. Applying tape to a book’s cover is almost certain to damage it when the package is opened. The Help Center item “How do I wrap a book?” has suggestions about how to wrap your book so that it gets to its new home in the same condition it left yours. The basics are: cover the book completely, consider an inner layer of plastic to protect against the elements, reinforce the corners and seams with tape (shipping, not Scotch) and make sure the contents of the package don’t slide around. We ask members who receive inadequately-wrapped books to give feedback to the sender (gently, please! Everyone is new to the club at one time), and share their personal “tips” on packaging, so that senders can improve their methods. If a wrapper is taped to a book and the book is damaged because of it, the requestor should ask for the credit back, and the sender should give it.

Dear R&R—I got an order for three books from one requestor, but when I printed out the wrapper only one title showed up on page 2! Am I not supposed to send the other two books? –Wondering in Willamette

Dear Will,

This has now been fixed! Previously, the wrapper for a bulk (multiple-book) request showed only one of the titles to be included in the package. Now you should see all the titles that are to be sent in that shipment on the second page of the PBS Wrapper. We have had this on our To Do list for a long time, and we thank our members for being so patient with us. Check your account page, Will, to be sure that all the titles are listed on the transaction there, because this must be a request submitted before we made this change. Any wrappers you print for future bulk requests should show all the titles on the second page.

Dear R&R—I ordered a book over a month ago, and it never arrived. I re-ordered it from someone else when the first copy was “lost in the mail” and today I received the book from the original sender and the postmark on the package was 2 weeks ago!!! This book was mailed late—why should I have to mark this received? The sender shouldn’t get credit for sending a book late! –Steamed in Schenectady

Dear Steamy,

Most books that arrive late were delayed en route through no fault of the sender’s (USPS is terrific, but it’s not perfect!) If the package bears stamps, the postmark might not reflect the actual date that it was mailed. If the package has a metered strip for postage, that is a different story: the date on a metered strip IS the date that the package was mailed. Before you write an angry message to the sender, do consider that something serious might have happened to delay this mailing. It is impossible to know the circumstances here. One late-mailed package can be understandable; however, PBS does not tolerate a pattern of late mailing. If a sender’s record shows that she or he is mailing late as a habit, we will reprimand him or her, and if the late-mailing does not stop, the sender will be removed from the club. It is important to let us know about late mailings, so we can investigate each case.

Late mailing without notice to the requestor is very inconsiderate, and we want to know about it when this happens. We tell senders that if they HAVE to mail a package late, to ask the requestor (using the PM feature) if it is OK to do so before marking the book mailed. This gives the requestor the chance to decline (the sender should cancel here, and repost the book when it can be mailed out within PBS timeframes), and try to get the book from someone else. In most cases, requestors don’t mind if a book is mailed a little late, as long as they are made aware of it, so they don’t re-order the book, and end up with two copies. We do recommend that “lost” books not be re-ordered too quickly, as frequently lost books are merely USPS-delayed, and do show up.

In this case, Steamy, you should mark the book received. You have gotten the book, and you can repost it and send it out to a new requestor, and get your credit back. While you are marking the book received, you will have an opportunity to let the sender know about the late mailing. Keep in mind that serious circumstances could be involved here—you don’t want to yell at a late-mailer who’s been hospitalized for a heart attack. But a firmly worded message to the sender, along with a notification to us by feedback, will go a long way to making sure that this does not become a habit with this person. Be sure to include the details of a transaction (book title, sender’s name, postmark date) when you notify us, so we can look into it.

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DEAR R&R: Newsletter – September 2006

Sunday, September 3rd, 2006

Holy Cow, did you see those numbers at the top of the site? We are almost at three-quarters of a million books! Our goal of making it to 1,000,000 books before the end of the year gets closer every day!
Dear R&R—I just found out about the canceled transactions page and I was surprised to see books I sent out on the list! How come I didn’t know about these? Will I get credit for sending these books? — Startled in Sheboygan

Dear Star,

Never fear! There are many reasons why a canceled transaction might be on your Canceled Transaction list (which is available by clicking the link at the top of your Transactions Archive page). The only ones you wouldn’t be notified about are:
(1) those you canceled yourself
(2) Wish List offers (of books you posted) that were declined, and the book was passed to the next Wishing Member, to whom you sent it
Check your en route and completed transactions—you will see that the active or completed transactions for these books are there, and will earn you credit (or have already earned you credit)! Each transaction is an agreement between ONE sender and ONE requestor—if either cancels, the transaction goes onto both members’ canceled lists. Thus, a book can be involved in multiple transactions, even if you have only one copy of the book to send out. One active, completed transaction is all it takes to earn you credit for sending the book!

*see the Help Center item “Can I see my past swaps?” at http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/help_item.php?id=18

Dear R&R—I got a request for two books, but when I accepted it, one of them disappeared! What happened??? — Bewildered in Buffalo

Dear Buffy,

When you accepted the multiple-book request, did you check the box next to each book that you could send before clicking “I can mail”? If not, you canceled any book that didn’t have its box checked! When a multiple-book request comes up on your account page, the instructions are written there. When you click “I can mail” on the multiple-book request, a box pops up asking you to confirm that the number of boxes that you checked (and therefore, books you have agreed to send) is correct. Please read before you click! I am sorry that this happened. You will need to repost this book to your bookshelf again, to wait for another requestor. I hope this book is requested again soon. When you repost it, it may be offered to the previous requestor, if there were no other copies in the system when you canceled. So you may be able to send both books to her in one package after all!

*see the Help Center item “My request disappeared!” at
http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/help_item.php?id=222

Dear R&R—How can I tell who’s requesting the book from me when I repost it? — Buffy again

Dear Buffy,

Simply click the PM (Personal Message) button on the active transaction for the book; the requestor’s name will come up in the To: field of the empty Personal Message. You can also download the address file to check the identity of the requestor, by clicking Print Wrapper and clicking Print Wrapper Now on the Wrapper Settings page. You don’t have to print it—just open the downloaded file to see the name and address there.

Dear R&R—When do you sleep? — Concerned in Kalamazoo

Dear Connie,

Thanks for asking. We don’t get a lot of sleep! With the return to school, our schedules are crazier than ever—and so, I am sure, are many of yours! We appreciate those members who have made the effort to find the answers to their questions in the new Help Center. We still get a lot of feedback, though! We may need to take some “R&R” (Rest and Relaxation) in the next month: we may try a feedback-free week (no feedback responses for a week) to see if we can reduce the daily numbers of feedback messages we receive. Please use the Help Center! Not all of your questions can be answered there, but many of them can. The Forums, the Help Center, and the Tour Guides are all excellent resources if you have a question about the site.

Speaking of Tour Guides — and all our volunteers — if any of you are feeling overburdened, please let us know. You can “take a break” any time, and return whenever you wish. We love our Volunteers, but we don’t want to wear you out! PBS should be fun — and we want you to have time to (you guessed it!) READ.

*You can get to the Help Center by clicking the gold button in the left menu of any page on the site.

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Dear R&R: Newsletter – August 2006

Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006

Dear R&R—I sent a book with PBS-DC, and it was delivered! I got my Quick Credit, but why isn’t the requestor marking the book received? Help! –Left in the Lurch in MT

Dear Lurch: Don’t fret! The requestor may be on vacation (a lot of people take vacations at this time of year), and may not have gotten home to mark your book received yet. Also, sometimes USPS scans a book as”“delivered” when it has made it to the local PO, a day or two before the book is actually delivered to the requestor’s mailbox. If your book is declared Lost in the Mail, the requestor can still mark it received from the Lost in Mail list accessible from the right-hand menu of the account page. If the book isn’t marked received by two weeks after the delivery date, let us know. In the meantime, use your Quick Credit to request another book. Time passes quickly when you’re reading!

Dear R&R—I keep getting these emails asking me if I have received a book, but I am away from home! How do I know if the book has arrived? Will I be in trouble if I don’t mark the book received before I get home? –On the Road in CO

Dear OTR: You got Lurch’s book, didn’t you? Don’t worry too much about those email reminders—if you return from your vacation, and mark the book received then (if it has arrived), all will be well! The computer knows when your bookshelf is “on vacation” but still sends these emails anyway. The Vacation/Hold feature does not prevent notifications about ongoing transactions (books requested by or from you before you enacted the Hold), so you will continue to get these kinds of emails from PBS. Just put it on your To Do list for after you get home, and enjoy your vacation! If the book has been declared lost in the mail before you return, just mark it received from your “lost in mail” list, accessible from the right-hand menu of your account page. You can read more about the Vacation/Hold feature in the Help Center then if you like, in the Help Center item “Can I put my bookshelf on hold/vacation?” (in the Quick Help box on the right-hand side of the Help Center page). Do that when you get back—for now, apply more sunscreen, and relax with a good book.

Dear R&R—I put my bookshelf on vacation because I won’t be able to get to the Post Office for a week or two. I posted books to be ready for when I come back, but they are being requested! Is the Hold working? –Panicked in PA

Dear Pip: First, check to make sure that the Hold was applied properly. If there is a pink message on your account page (in the box for the Message from the Librarian), then the Hold is in place and working. But the Vacation/Hold feature won’t hide newly posted books from the membership. When you placed your bookshelf on hold, only the books that were on it at the time were earmarked to be “hidden”. If you post any new items with your bookshelf on hold, they will be visible to the membership! Make sure that you post only books that you are prepared to send out when they are requested. If you want to “get a jump on things” in the meantime, you can put the books you want to post on your TBR (To Be Read) List, accessible from the dropdown menu under “Book Lists” on the right of your account page, and easily post them later (when you are ready to accept requests for them) from there, with one click!

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Dear R&R: Newsletter – June 2006

Friday, June 2nd, 2006

“Dear R&R—I went to mail my book with PBS Delivery Confirmation, and the postal clerk told me that the Delivery Confirmation made it First Class, and charged me additional postage. Can’t I use Media Mail rate with Delivery Confirmation? Sincerely,”– Delivery Confused in OH

Dear Confused,

Yes, you CAN use Media Mail rate with Delivery Confirmation! Delivery Confirmation does NOT change the class of mail. Delivery Confirmation is intended for merchandise, and a book is merchandise. Unfortunately, not all USPS employees know and understand the USPS regulations. Sometimes we PBSers will have to educate our postal employees. First, the package MUST say “Media Mail”. That is why all PBS generated wrappers have this in bold red print! (If it doesn’t say “Media Mail”, the USPS is required to send it First Class.)

If you need documentation to show your USPS employees, you can print it off the Internet at this location: http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendmail/extraservices/deliveryconfirmationservice.htm.

The regulation is in the center of the page under the subheading You can use Delivery Confirmation with…. Media Mail is cited in the third bullet point.

“Dear R&R—I tried to order a book from a member offering a 2-for-1 deal, but my request went to a totally different person! Why did this happen?” –Trying to Make a Deal in Delaware

Dear Dell,

If you want to direct a book request to a certain member, instead of to the member who posted the book into the system first, you need to go to that member’s bookshelf and click the Order This Book button THERE (and nowhere else).

If you click the book cover or title to look at the book details page and learn more about the book, you must then click the BACK button on your browser to go BACK to the member’s bookshelf before clicking the Order This Book button.

Clicking the Order This book on the book details page, or ANYWHERE else on the site except a specific member’s bookshelf will send the request to the member who posted her copy of this book earliest, which may or may not be the intended member. (This is because of the FIFO–first-in, first-out–principle; for more about FIFO, go to the FAQs and enter ‘FIFO.’)

You can check to be sure your request has gone to the right person, by clicking the Personal Message button right away on the transaction for the book on your account page. If the name that comes up in the ‘To:’ field is not the name of the member you intended to order from, you should cancel this order, and try again. You should do this (check-and-cancel) RIGHT AWAY, so that the sender does not get a chance to print the wrapper. Every request is delayed about an hour before the sender is notified, so if you cancel before the hour is up, the sender will not even know that you ordered the book from him or her at all.

I hope this helps you get in on those great deals in the Book Bazaar Discussion Forum—there are new ones being posted every day!

“Dear R&R– I tried to put Delivery Confirmation on my book wrapper, but the system is telling me that DC isn’t available for this address. What do I do now?” –Address Invalid in AR

Dear Addy,

Some addresses ARE valid but require modification. If you notice that your address in PBS has been changed from Road to RD, or from Lane to LN, or perhaps your apartment number has been changed from Apt to UNIT, please do not change it back. We are correcting member addresses that are validated but have been refused by USPS for failure to use USPS nomenclature. It’s not enough to have the correct information; that information must be formatted exactly as USPS requires. If you want to check your address to see if it’s validated, visit this website and test it: http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp.

For those members who have been living for years at an address that USPS has not gotten around to validating, it is a good idea to approach your local postmaster about attending to this task.

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