I mailed 4 books out yesterday. Apparently I forgot to mark one of them as 'sent' as I got a 'cancelled request' notice today. Is there a way for the recipient can mark it as received when they get it? 

My request was canceled but I already mailed the book!

If you received an email from PBS telling you that a book transaction was canceled, but you already mailed the book, this means you did not mark the book mailed before the deadline to do so.

• The other possibility for an email cancellation notification would be if the requestor canceled--and the requestor could not cancel once you accessed the address information from the request.  So if you obtained the address from the request and mailed the book to the correct person, the requestor could not cancel - the system did.
• If you clicked Cancel Order by mistake on a book you mailed, then you will not have gotten a cancellation email but the instructions below still apply. 

If you did not get an email notification of a cancellation, but you cannot find an outgoing request in your account, please see My request disappeared!.

If you didn't mail the book yet, see My request was canceled--I didn't mail the book yet.

A canceled transaction doesn't get credit - BUT you can try to fix this, if you act promptly after the cancellation.

What to do now:

• Log into your account

• Click My Account at the top of the site

• Choose the Transaction Archive link at the top of the My Account page

• Find the canceled book in the list

  • Make sure it is the CORRECT canceled transaction - put your cursor over the red X on the left and the words "Canceled - no response from sender in allotted time" should come up.

• Click the PM button on the right to create a Personal Message to the requestor

  • Paste this text (you can modify it to suit the situation of course) into the PM text box window

    I mailed this book [Insert title of book] but neglected to mark it mailed before the deadline, and it was canceled. Please look at your My Account main page right now - if you have an active request there for [Insert title of book] it is NOT with me--it is with a new sender. Your request must have been passed on to that person, and you will get 2 copies of this book if the new request is not canceled. If you do have an active request on your account page for this book can you cancel it? You will be getting a copy of the book from me. You can then mark my book received when it arrives, from your Transaction Archive. If you are willing to do this I really appreciate it! Just let me know if you have a new transaction on your account page, and if you are able/willing to cancel. I am very sorry about the inconvenience. I am going to mark my books mailed before the deadline from now on!

• Then wait for the requestor's response.

  • If she HAS been able to cancel, then when she receives your book she can follow the instructions in the Help doc I received a book from a canceled transaction! to mark the book received from her Transaction Archive, and you will get credit then.

  • If she has NOT been able to cancel, she will end up with 2 copies, and she will NOT be obligated to mark the canceled copy (yours) received. The Help doc I received 2 copies of the same book! explains this.

If

Sorry, but please do not follow Charles' advice.  Mary posted the correct procedure and that is what you should do.  Asking  the receiver to reject the book and have it returned to you will lead to all sorts of problems.  First and foremost, Media Mail is one-way postage.  The PO can and most likely will charge you first class or even priority postage if the package is over the first class weight limit to return the book to you.  Therefore, you will be out more postage and your credit here if you do that.  And that's if the book even gets back to you.  I'm not sure the PO even has try to return MM.

With the PBS procedures established for failing to mark a book received, the worst that can happen is you will lose out on the credit and the postage you paid to send it (and the book, of course.) Chalk that one up to "lesson learned" and move on.  However, you might also get lucky and the receiver won't end up with 2 books and s/he will mark it received from the TA when it arrives and you will get the credit and all is well.   If you do what Charles suggested,  you have no chance of it all turning out OK and you will also be out all of the above and you will end up paying more money (to the PO) to get the book back.

Mary's post is directly from PBS guidelines.  As noted, proper guideline is to contact the receiver immediately and let them know the book is enroute.  This (hopefully) allows them to put the book on hold before the system orders another copy for them.  When the book is received, they can mark it received from their Transaction Archive.  

If the system already ordered a second copy for the receiver, and they cannot cancel it and do in fact receive two copies....they are not obligated to mark yours as received.  

Charles suggestion has a flaw.  Media Mail rates does NOT include return or forwarding postage.  If the package is returned, you wll be charged return postage.  First Class (and some other rates) include free returns, Media Mail does not.  You would be out Media Mail postage x 2 and no credit.

If you forget to update your PBS address when you move, and USPS has to forward your Media Mail...your books will arrive with postage due for the forward service.