I had requests yesterday and late the day before. I had told each of them that I would mail saturday. (Had to get some ink for the printer.) WELL, this morning, I couldnt get on, and tried over and over. Finally got on a while ago. I did notify the people that wanted my books, but my question now is since I cannot mail them until the post offic opens monday, am I going to be penalized? What should I do?

You have 2 days after the Mail By date you chose to mail the books out.  I'm not sure the PO is open on Monday (President's Day).  Are the books under 13 oz?  If so, you can use postage stamps to mail them.  Once you drop them in a blue drop box, I'd consider them mailed and mark them as such.

I wouldn't make a habit of this but since this is an rare circumstance: I would mark them mailed if they are going to time out and then just mail them on Tuesday.  You've already PM'd people to explain the problem.  Most likely they had similar issues with not being able to log into the site. 

I took a browse through the HC and couldn't find anything that fit these circumstances....

So, IMO, I'd agree with Mary.  

Also, IMO, notifying the recipients as you did, tells me you are a Great and Caring PBSer!!!   Welcome!!!!

I agree - in this case, go ahead and mark them mailed.  The Help Center says:

A book must be mailed within 48 hours of marking it mailed

• It is okay to mark your book mailed before you have mailed it if:

  • The deadline date falls on a postal holiday
  • Your computer/Internet access is unreliable
  • You plan to mail the book on your way out of town

 I think it'd safe to assume PBS being down would be an another acceptable reason :)

I'll agree, just mail ASAP on Tuesday. 

You notified requestors, and the site was down this morning for about 6 hours.  I was also trying to print mailing labels, was frustrating.  Sometimes you can only do what you can do.

I do enjoy that I feel welcome and comfortable here. I have done online shops and auctions on many sites for a LONG time, and if that is ONE thing I know that people HATE is lack of communication. (very few will get annoyed with the extra emails or PMs), If you order something, and pay for it (even a credit type system like this) you expect it to be shipped ON TIME and you want that item to arrive as soon as possible. (and in AS DESCRIBED condition!) so, yeah, I was kinda frantic when I finally got on.

I didn't realize Monday is a holiday and that the PO may be closed. That REALLY stinks! Luckily, my mom has the whole printable postage setup and I have a paypal debit card. So, I will get the postage ON them tomorrow and take them the extra ten miles to the MAIN post office so that they process early tuesday morning and actually make it onto the truck to go to the zip code destinations PO. (One order was just about 2 hours from my home!) I have had so MANY issues with mailing and its been a very in depth learning process. I think I will send the requestors one more BRIEF pm about the holiday issue AFTER i go to the USPS website and see whats open and whats not. (The main may be open, sometimes the rural offices open limited hours or are closed completely.) 

Again, thank you for the help! I'm looking forward to reading the MAIL MAUL thread.  

after reading and responding here I went to the HC and looked at the mailing rules. I have 3 kids 5 and under and my husband is gone for 7 to 14 days at a time. Often it's difficult to get to the PO with akward packages and 2 or 3 kids. I've come to the conclusion that there are also many other UNFORSEEN things that can happen. That combination, while it might annoy some people, I have decided that I am going to allow myself more time for mailing. That gives me the option of waiting for the right time when I have a sitter or only one child to take along. I will of course post that explaination in public view so that those browsing my bookshelf will understand WHY it may take me longer than 48 hours. I'm sure most will understand and not mind, and others will decide that they want that book ASAP, and request it from another member. In their case, I can understand because I am usually DYING to get what I ordered.

and i am SOOOOOOOOO addicted, that I may not be able to pry myself from the site long enough to get to the PO! (Just kidding.)

You don't have to limit yourself to 48 hours. Just accept a request by clicking "I Can Mail Later" and select a date of your choice. I believe you can select any date up to 5 days in the future, and you have 2 days beyond the date you select to actually return and mark the book mailed. That gives you a full week to mail the books. If you happen to find that the next day is a good one to get to the P.O. after all, then you can always mark the book mailed earlier than the date you had selected.

The other thing that I do (because I too sometimes have trouble getting to the Post Office) is wait a few days before accepting. I realize that some people who order don't like that wait but sometimes people have no choice but to wait a few days and then pick the fartherest mailing date out. I usually get my books mailed before that date I pick but this week, my books were wrapped and didn't get taken to the Post office until the last mintue.

When you accept a request, you have two options.  You can click on the "I Can Mail in 2 days" or "I Can Mail Later".   When you choose the "Later" option.....it will then provide you with a drop-down list of several dates to choose from.  By choosing one of these dates.....there is no need to notify the requestor.  The date you choose will appear in their book ordered listing.

You can also put a little note in the header on your bookshelf, or as a line in the bottom half of your postings. 

LOL  Cathy....you were submitting while I was typing!!!

And if you select a date five days out.......and happen to mail in two........It is a pleasant surprise for the receiver!!!!

babs - I like to wait for a couple or 3 days to see if they order any more books from me - I've been cought before having to send 2 books separately to the same person because I didn't wait to see if they were going to order another.  It's MUCH cheaper to mail more than one book than to mail 2 separatey!

Ruth

If you're using printable postage, either from PBS or Paypal or Stamps.com or Endicia, you can always drop your packages in a blue box too.  That's what I do, I rarely get to the PO itself.  Only if I have something that I can't fit in a blue box or it's Sunday or a holiday.  If you take the package and drop it off inside the PO, it'll still get sorted on on its way.  Just because there's no mail delivery and the window's closed, doesn't mean there's not people working in the back sorting the mail and getting it moving on its way.  They just don't pick up from blue boxes on Sunday and holidays.

The suggestions were all VERY helpful! Me being my obsessive self will stop having meltdowns in a week or so once Ive gotten comfy here. Love!

Don't have meltdowns - that's not productive or good for you.  I buy the PBS posyage and DC as well.  Mainly because I am not supposed to drive much.  So I depend on sons and DH to mail for me and they surly aren't going in to stand in line at the PO.  I love being able to drop the packages in the blue box and be finished with it!

Ruth

We're a caring community here....when you feel a meltdown coming on.....remember...

Support is just a "click" away!!!  lol

Technically: if you print the lable, stick stamps or printed postage on the book and stick in your mail box then it's "mailed". 

I also sometimes wait to accept requests. If I've just gone to the post office, if there's a holiday coming up or I have WL books I've posted that are still waiting to be accpeted then I might let a request sit for a day or two. 

Meltdowns cause liquid damage to books :-)