I received a book damaged by the USPS and it was in a plastic bag already written with the We Care message. I'm going to mark it as received, but according to the PBS rules I have to RWAP it as Damaged by the USPS.  It is clearly not in a condition for me to repost, but what is the point of RWAPing it? I don't understand why this is required. I can understand if it was damaged by the USPS because of poor wrapping by the sender, but in this case it was the sorting machine that did the damage. I understand that I am not going to get my credit back, that's not the reason I'm asking.  I am wondering why the sender is going have this on her record when it was not her doings.

What do I write in my pm and what am I suppose to expect the sender to do? I guess since it's required I just pm her and then mark it as resolved? Just seems to me a waste of time and should not be a mark against her record.

I think it is mainly information gathering. t allows for the site to track (1) the amount of books damaged by the USPS. Maybe they will reconsider their wrapping recommendations if they see a significant number marked as wrapped in just the wrapper and damaged. Maybe they will see a certain sorting center that a large amount of damaged books are coming out of and can have their postal liason look into it. (2) They will see members with a high amount of USPS damaged books and can look into the details to see if the member is wrapping poorly or if there could be an issue with the postal system near them.

I don't know whether the site has ever followed up on a high number of USPS damaged books, but the information can't hurt. If you note that the wrapping didn't contribute to the damage and mark it resolved, it shouldn't affect the sender's account status.

It'll also put you back at the top of the list if it was a WL book.

The PBS system is set up to keep statistics.  That is why we answer if the label was hand written or not.  (Compare mailing times with label bar code vs not.)  PBS has a postal consultant to help with problem areas.  The postal contact has helped when local post offices refuse the PBS eDC.  They should also be able to help when the sorting machines eat too much.

Connie, Whenever I get a "damaged by USPS" I will PM to the member whatever the damages were and usually I am able to assure them that they did everything right (unless it was poorly packaged and then I have that conversation), that I am not requesting a credit and that I will mark in the transaction archive that the problem is resolved and that they need not do anything. I never want to leave the member that I am PMing wondering if they have to do anything, so spell it all out!

I pmed the sender this message --  This was purely damaged by USPS and was not your fault. It was received inside a plastic bag stating that they were sorry that it got damaged through their sorting machines.

I then received this message back from the sender -- Sorry that happened I'll refund your credit! Hope our paths will cross again.

I returned her credit with a pm explaining that I did not expect a credit to be refunded as it was not her fault.

What just happened is exactly why I don't agree to RWAPing a book Damaged by the USPS if it is not the sender's fault in any way. Plus, now I have the problem to how do I mark this as resolved? The choices given to me are not appropriate to this situation.

The choices I have for a resolution are:

(1) The sender has resolved the problem. (2) The sender has NOT resolved the problem. (3) The sender didn't answer the PM asking to discuss this and (4) This was marked a problem swap by mistake.

Which resolution above makes sense for me to choose? I can't figure a good one. There should be a more appropriate choice.

Connie--I think the only choice in this case is the mark that (1)--"The sender has resolved the problem".  It's the closest to fitting the situation--although the sender didn't actually cause the problem.  I agree--in the case where you mark something RWAP--damaged by USPS, there should be another more appropriate option for marking the transaction resolved.

Thanks everyone and Laura, I did mark that choice, as there is no better one, sigh