I have one that was lost (but I do expect will get here eventually) that was requested and printed March 1st but not mailed until March 8.  I think they marked the "will mail later" with the latest possible 5-day-out date, and someone said that you have 2 days "grace" even after that before it times out of the system... but since it's so late I'm wondering if it was mailed even later (especially since I believe that's the one that was marked mailed at approximately midnight EST on the 8th!!).  So if it comes with a postmark of March 9 or later, am I meant to mark it RWP or will the system catch that they aren't following site guidelines for mailing or what?? 

Just curious--I've never really thought about mailing dates before but we are having mail issues at my APO lately and everything is taking for..e...ver so I'm more away of it now.  :-/

It's not RWAP just because it was mailed late. Accept the book and fill out the survey, noting the date when the book was sent. That'll be kept in the transaction logs for TPTB, so if the sender becomes a problem sender it will be there as a reference.

The one time i had a seriously late-mailed book (10 days), I gave the date-of-mailing where indicated, as well as leaving a message for PBS and the sender: "Had the sender told me ahead of time, with a valid reason, why she needed extra time, so could she mark the book mailed to keep the transaction kosher, I would have been okay with it. I'm not okay with hearing nothing."  Sender replied that she was (genuinely, I felt) sorry - she'd arrived at the P O on that day without enough cash to mail out all her stuff.

RWP is for issues with the actual item received itself.

I wouldn't markt it RWP for mailing late. Sometimes things happen.  I would fill out the survey, note the mailing date and then in the remarks section put that the book was mailed late.  The book going lost is already a mark sort of against them.  If it's a chronic thing, PBS will send a reminder to them to mail books on time. 

It would be incorrect to mark a book RWP for a late mailing. Per the help:

Unofficial problems are noted during the process of marking a book received (on the survey portion of the Book Received page).

If a pattern of "official" or "unofficial" problems (especially official problems that are not resolved according to requestor follow-up) emerges on a sender's account, we will take action.

• "Official" problems (Wrong books/Inappropriate items, Damaged books, Damaged by USPS books, and books that violate Requestor Conditions) are marked as such during the process of marking the book received (see below for instructions)

• "Unofficial" problems (books that are postmarked late, that arrive postage-due) are marked received normally, and the problem(s) can be described in the optional "survey" portion on the lower part of the Book Received page. 

One of the post offices here is open until 6:30 PM.  They have a sign up that anything recevied after 5PM will be post marked with the next day.  If a sender is late in mailing (i.e. the mail date on package doesn't match the PBS mail date)... the only thing to do is to enter that mail date when it is received.  I suspect that if a sender gets too many of those it would be looked into by R&R and doesn't need to be marked received with problem.

The book going lost is already a mark sort of against them. 

Not when you mail to APO addresses--the owners understand that our mailing times are much longer, and it's in the Requestor Conditions too.  :) 

I should have thought to check the help docs, duh!  I kind of thought that wouldn't count as an official "problem," though--good to know for sure; many thanks!  :)  (And my OP meant to say that I'm more "aware" not more "away" LOL)

When you buy printed postage off PayPal, you can future date the postage, I think, 4 days ahead. A person can mail the package earlier then that date, as long as they mail by that date. So the actual date mailed may not be reflected by the date printed.   

Until I found this out, I usually printed out the postage the day I package & mail items. But one day after printing the postage, I ran out of packing tape while taping, (I'm one of those people who overtape,) and couldn't make it to the store to buy a new roll for a couple of days. So I actually lost that $3 postage because I didn't get to mail by the date printed and had to buy new postage. I ended up spending $6 total to mail that one package, and you can be sure, I advance dated that second printed label the full time allowed. I still mailed well within the PBS deadline, but the date mailed was not the date on the label.  

When you mark a book RWP, it then asks you if it was DAMAGED by the sender or the PO. Well, neither fits, because it isn't damaged, just mailed late. So, really RWP isn't an option.

The only answer is to fill out the survey. You can express that the book had a metered mail strip, and wasn't just a stamp which can often be added half way thru to your house. If it's a stamp, it's not a definitive date,but a metered strip will be an actual date. Put the fact that it was a metered strip in the info box at the bottom so that PBS knows for certain that the book was mailed late.

Personally, I wouldn't even note it if its just a couple days. Not worth it since it could be a zillion reasons for a couple days late. But, when it's marked extremely late (like 2-3 weeks) and goes lost with no PM to let me know, then I make very sure that I fill in the survey and make a note in the bottom to PBS, as well as filling in the top to let the sender know I'm not happy.

Sometimes the mail by date given by PBS will be on a Sunday or holiday.  If the book is mailed on PBS that date, as required by PBS, but shipped the next day, I don't think that's a fault of the sender, nor should they have a mark against their account because of it.