Had a surprising thing happen as soon as I ordered a book from a shelf with many books on it.  It was marked 'mailed' less than a minute after I clicked to order.  Now I make sure to search my closet where I keep my bookshelf books and actually have book in hand before I even 'accept' an order.......I  certainly do not mark it mailed because I plan to pull it, print wrapper, wrap it, and then go to the PO (and given today is Sunday there are probably few sites open today that have self-mailing centers).  In fact, I won't even click 'mailed' til I return from PO, just in case something happens that delays my errand to the PO til the next day.

  So how many automatically mark things mailed before the actual mailing process is complete?

I don't but I've had this a few times.

Not unusual for me. I post only wishlisted books. I wrap before posting and when accepted or if on auto immediately address and put in the drop box for my apartment. Nothing strange to me about the situation described. It is mailed when I put it in the box and that is maybe 5 minutes.

I'll go out on a limb and say many members like me work full time, have busy lives and arent quickly wrapping, buying pbs postage and dropping in a mailbox.

Most times when I see what Jeanne described it's not being mailed at rhat time. Sometimes it might be like Mary does but not in my cases.

I have never marked a book mailed that fast and don't like it when a sender does that because that prevents me (or the other person if I'm doing the mailing) from adding a book from their posted shelf to be mailed with the wishlisted book.

I usually wait until the day I'm mailing to mark a book as mailed.  When I mark it mailed, it's right before I head to the post office or other combined errands.  Otherwise, I might forget to mark it mailed after I return back home.

There is the odd time when I happen to be at the site when a book request comes in and I can print the label, wrap the book and carry it out to the mailbox within 5 minutes but that is the exception to the rule. I never mark it mailed until it is actually in the mail. 

What has happened to me repeatedly as a requestor is that the sender accepts, prints and marks as mailed immediately and 4-5 days later I get a PM saying that they can't find the book. When I requested the book originally there might have been another copy available and if there hadn't been a delay between marking it mailed and then actually looking for the book, I would have been able to request the other copy...but now, 4 or 5 days later that other copy has been requested and the book ends up on my WL...so frustrating. Not to mention, the other member often instructs me to just "let the book go lost" and then I'll get my credit back. Great...a credit is tied up for nearly a month for a book that was never sent because they don't know how to solve a problem they created.

I now have a blue box just a short walk from my house. Lots of times, I print, wrap, click mailed and walk straight down the street to drop the book in the blue box. Works for me although, technically, I suppose I could wait until I returned from my walk to click mailed. Since I tend to get distracted easily, I prefer to do it first so I won't forget to mark it mailed.

Pam

I mark books mailed as soon as I wrap them up. Which could be the day I receive the order or could be a week later.

I mark them mailed as soon as I get them wrapped too. Of course, once I wrap them, they go in the mailbox that day. Typically, there is a few days between the time I accept a book request and get around to printing the label, wrapping, and putting it in the outgoing mail. I don't have any books on my shelf right now (only posting WL books) but when I did, I figured that gave people time to either add books if they wanted or change their mind and cancel.

Maybe it's just me but I find it weird that people would mark a book mailed that wasn't actually mailed. I understand the thought that it's wrapped and labeled but it's not actually mailed until it's mailed. I have a postal pick up at work so I print and wrap and drop. Then I mark it mailed. I don't mark things mailed unless they have actually been put into the mail slot or mail box. I had a book once that was marked mailed on a Monday and NINE days later got a PM from the sender saying they forgot to actually mail it and it was sitting in thier car. Maybe that's the exception, and I'm certainly not trying to argue with people or claim that any of the posters above me are bad people or whatever, but I think it's really strange to mark a book mailed that isn't. Just my two cents. And PBS may have different rules for when to mark something mailed, again I get that. I think if I remember correctly PBS says you can mark it mailed if you plan on mailing it within two days (not exactly sure but that's what I remember), so I'm not trying to accuse people of breaking the rules either. Like I said, it just seems weird to mark it mailed when it's not.

I also do not mark a book mailed unless I have already mailed. I find it annoying that other people do because when I check to see when I should receive it, the information is inaccurate. Just my pet peeve.

1. When someone marks a book mailed but it never gets mailed ... PBS works just fine completely automatically, and the requestor eventually gets their credit back without needing to do anything at all.
2. When someone mails a book but forgets to mark it mailed ... it's a HUGE problem that takes human intervention to fix. 

So, obviously, while it may be annoying to some people, it's FAR better to take a chance on #1 instead of #2.

I am not sure how you check to see when it should be received. In my experience, those book packages are all varaible, I expect to receive books anywhere from 6-10 days after they are marked mailed. Before is a huge bonus, after is not unusual. So, if someone marks it mailed but actually drops it off the next day, or even 2 days later ... I don't see how anyone could possibly tell the difference as far as what day to expect it exactly. At best, you can usually guess what week it should come.

Tracking give lots of information about your mail.

Free tracking is widely available now.  

You can look up tracking numbers or sign up with My USPS and they will enter the tracking numbers for you.  Works for both packages sending and receiving. 

The scans give  important info.  When it arrived at Post office, when it left the PO, when it arrived at destination PO, sorting complete, out for delivery, delivered.  Often times they give you an estimate of the delivery date.  So if someone mails a package to me with tracking and they do not give me a tracking number, My USPS Dashboard will get the info for me.  I can mail from home using stamps with free tracking 400 labels I ordered from USPS online.  They will mail you the tracking labels for free.  I think you still have to follow the 13 oz. rule, not sure on that one.  

I believe one day USPS will require everyone to use tracking even when mailing from home. 

EDITED: when you buy electronic postage, the scan will show the date and Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item.  

When it is actually  received at PO, the scan will show Acceptance or Received or Departed Post office.  

If it scans Acceptance a week after mailed that could be because the sender did not actually mail  until later.  

When you mail from home with stamps and tracking number the scan will say acceptance when recieved by PO.

Most of my mail gets scanned but your scan results will vary with the practices of different PO's.  

i can't even find blue boxes in FL anymore except outside in the PO parking lots (drive up ones).  Some of you are Lucky!

i think many of us have been in the situation where we get the PM "found the book package under the seat of the car!", 'sorry it didn't get mailed on time'.

I think it depends on whether people are using printable postage and on where they live as I suspect those living in big cities have faster, easier access to mailboxes. I have a quick turnaround time on getting books out the door (at least if they're requested Mon-Fri). I do printable postage and then put it in the mailbox which is only a 30 second walk away so I can easily process and mail a book out within 2-3 minutes.

I marked it mailed once it goes in the mailbox. I wasn't paying attention one day and accidently marked one mailed when I printed the label.

I just discovered today that at least one other site marks things as shipped at the exact same time that a label is purchased. I just sold a collectible item on ebay this morning. When I went to PayPal to create the shipping label, PayPal automatically transferred the tracking number to ebay and that caused ebay to automatically mark the item as shipped.  I then took the package to the p.o.

I'm going to assume that some other sites  also mark items as shipped before they actually make it to the p.o. or other shipping carriers.  For instance,  if you've ever bought anything from Amazon Prime or directly from the site itself, you might have sometimes received an email late at night, or in the wee hours of the morning,  notifying you that your item has shipped.  If you think about it, no shipping carriers are open at that hour,  so your item is actually being shipped when the carrier is open or when the trucks come to the shipping dock to pick it up.  (Though I guess Amazon could have trucks there at all hours of the day and night, but hopefully you get my point anyway.)

Even  if I have a  list of honey-do-this errands, I stiick to the list and the p.o. is usually on the list  because I also need to go there to check our p.o. box for the mail.

Anyway, I don't think it's odd to mark  a  PBS package as mailed right before you're going to the p.o.  (same day).

I'm also one who doesn't mark a book mailed until I've actually gotten rid of it. I mail twice a week, but still don't mark mailed until it's actually out of my hands. I always feel that something could happen between my house and the PO.

I'm on the PBS site 5/10/15 times a day (most days). When I get a book request I go and pull the book - 1) to make sure I still have it, and 2) to make sure it's still postable (just in case), and 3) if it has RC's to make sure it will meet those RC's. If everything is good to go then I accept the request and print a label using printable postage, wrap the book in plastic (or plastic bag), get the label attached (or wrapped if a mass market), and mark the book mailed right then. If it's early enough it gets placed for the mailman to p/u from my front porch - usually by noon. If it's after 12p and I'm going out then I'll drop it off in a Blue Box (3 in town), else drop it off at the PO. Sat after 12 noon the PO closes and they will have to wait til the PO can process on Monday - even if I drop a book in a Blue Box or at the PO Drop Box after 12 noon on Sat the PO will not P/U or process here - but the book(s) still got mailed. 

I don't wait on the off chance that someone will order a 2nd book - I've had too many book requests that were canceled because I waited for a day or 2 hoping that a member would order more and the requestor changed their mind for whatever reason and canceled the request.

PBS gives everyone a 1-hour grace period to change their mind about a book request (if you order a book at 1-pm, the book request is "held" until 2-pm before it goes out to be fulfilled), I'm here to get a book credit ASAP - when a request comes in I handle it ASAP. In 10 years I have not 'fogotten' to mail out a book that I have marked as "mailed". And, in 10 years I have not had someone ask me not to mail out a book that I had already accepted and fully processed. 

I do a lot of book deals and process them all the same way - if I get a PM first with a full list of what was ordered and the freebies wanted I can have everything boxed up, weighed, and waiting to be wrapped before the official Requests comes in via PBS - so as soon as the request comes in (1-hour after it was ordered) I'm already ready to print a label and mark it as mailed - it will go out that day (M-F) or the next morning if after hours.

Small town here - PO is never ever busy that a visit takes more than 5 minutes from the time you walk in the door - it's also just 2 miles down the road - if you order a book from me it'll be in the mail that day or early the next morning..

no shipping carriers are open at that hour

My town has APC access 24/7/365. I've mailed books at 2 or 3 AM on my way home from the Rescue Squad. I once had someone question me when I marked a book mailed on a Sunday. Told them I sure as heck has mailed on Sunday, from the APC.

When it is actually  received at PO, the scan will show Acceptance or Received or Departed Post office.  

If it scans Acceptance a week after mailed that could be because the sender did not actually mail  until later.  

That book I mailed from the APC on Sunday won't get scanned until Monday or Tuesday, so a late scan doesn't mean I didn't mail when I said I did.

Just this Monday, I printed a book wrapper and marked mailed immediately, as I was home, wrapped the book, and put it out in my home outgoing mailbox. Five minutes, tops. I wasn't going to wait until after I mailed to head back to the basement and log back in to the computer to mark mailed. That same book was picked up Monday when my mail was delivered. However, it wasn't scanned as accepted until Tuesday.

I want to second what Sheryl said, you cannot go by the scans and think someone mailed late...I mailed a book from my home with tracking on a Saturday, it was not scanned until the following Tuesday night at the local PO...where it had been in the intervening 3 days, I haven't a clue but I would be very annoyed if anyone accused me of mailing late based on the scans. I use the My USPS app and regularly see where someone bought postage on one date and then there is not another scan until it is out for delivery, so beware of making assumptions based on tracking!

I'm like a lot of you in that I check to be sure I have the book and that it's in good condition.  I pull the book or books first, print label and when I'm ready to mail, then I mark it mailed.   I've had requests cancelled so I do that before I go to post office that way I'm not mailing out on a cancelled request.  As another pointed out, it's a mess to correct a book mailed that isn't in the pbs system as mailed.    Now to be honest, I have missed the post office a couple of times, they closed before I got there.  I just mailed the next day.  I also just had a wishlist in which the member pm'd that her husband forgot to drop off the book for a couple of days.  I got the book; I'm happy.  Things happen.  I generally don't compare or check on when a book is mailed unless there is a problem.  I think I've only had 1 problem with mailing; since I've been a member so I'm happy:)

An easy way to keep a book order from being cancelled is to accept the order and hit the 'print label' button. The system will generate the PDF, which you can close/delete; you don't have to actually print it on paper or have postage on it. Once the system prints the label, the requestor cannot cancel the order.  And then you can wait 'til the mail by date, for whatever reason, for add-ons or to communicate with the requestor. When you're ready, even several days later, print the label for real, with postage or not.

Wow. Pretty unfriendly to accept with no intention of "timely mailing" just to protect yourself against cancellation. Likely cancelletions occur becaue you do not mail in a timely fashion. PSB guide lines are not viewed by many as timely, so they just cancel and move on.

 PSB guide lines are not viewed by many as timely, so they just cancel and move on.

Timely mailing can be up to 12 days on PBS. That's the rules. 

I don't know that people "cancel and move on". If they cancel their book order and make a new one, it goes back to the same person they canceled on except with a new time clock that starts the 12 days all over again.

If I need a book immediatley I order it from Amazon. If I want a book but it's not urgent, I order here. People mail when they mail. I only expect them to follow the site guidelines and mail within the alloted timeframe, whether that's at the beginning or end of the timeframe is not something I worry about. Because if I needed the book immediately I would have just ordered it from Amazon in the first place.

It seems like a lot of unnecessary fussing to me to constantly check to see when something is mailed. I truly have never done that and I've ordered about 1,800 books here. That's 1800 times I have failed to worry about it and the books arrived without any energy/worry/mailing checks on my part needed.