So, here's a new one. Sorry it's long. I don't want to forget any important details.

I ordered a book on Aug 18. It was marked mailed on Aug 20. I just received it today, and when flipping through it, I found 15 pages with underlining, writing and highlighting. It's a Shakespeare book, so maybe it was used for a class, but the sender never got my approval for the textbook exception before sending it. I ordered this book, not to repost it, but for my Shakespeare class. My professor specifically said to get this edition, with no one else's marks in it. He wants us to have our own ideas about the story (he's actually a really good professor). Anyway, I went on here to mark it RWAP, but then I realized that I didn't have the Request ID to check against the site. I ALWAYS check the paper with the book against the site's records every time I mark something received. On the envelope, my address was handwritten, and the return address is one of those return address stickers. The postage is from the Post Office. It says it was mailed Aug 19. There's USPS tracking, but it's from the PO, not PBS. There's no paper in the book or package with the Request ID, Title, Sender, none of that information. So, okay, whatever, right? I only requested one copy....

According to PBS, this book should be enroute from California, NOT Illinois. And, the supposed sender on the record is female. Absolutely a female name. The return address is from a male. So, being the detective I am, I ran the name on the return label, and even the city and state, through the PBS directory.... There isn't any member matching ANY PART of this information...

Bottom line:

• I got the book from IL when PBS says it's CA
• PBS says it was from a female, return label says male
• PBS also says the actual sender doesn't exist.

I don't want to mark it RWAP if it's not the right sender... I've checked EVERY SINGLE BOOK on my transaction archive thinking I made a mistake and not a single one was supposed to come from Illinois.

WHAT DO I DO?????

Contact the sender you have in your transaction archive. If I had to guess, I'd say someone moved out/went to college/is on business in California and had their dad/brother/spouse mail the book since they left it at home. But only the sender can really tell you what happened.

I've mailed books before from hotels when I can't stop at the post office before I get on a plane.

My guess is the same. The book was left at one place (maybe for someone to read or use in a class) and the PBS member posted it when they were done, with the understanding that the holder of the book would mail it out when it was requested.

That's a lot of sleuthing, but if you only have one request that you made for that book in your Transaction Archive, go ahead and RWAP it. And, if it turns out to be a mistake somehow after all, then you can go and mark it "Marked RWAP by Mistake" from the Transaction Archive.

It could be that the sender was using up some old address labels.

If there's PO tracking, then you can go to usps.com and put the number in there to see where the book actually came from.

Good suggestion for more sleuthing Cathy!

Sometimes I post books that my mother has, and then I send her the mailing info and she mails the book.  In those situations a book that is "supposedly" coming from me in Florida is actually being sent by my mother in Georgia.   This could be a similiar-type of situation.  Although I generally send my mother the wrapper to print out, this person may have just sent the sender the name and address of where the book was to be mailed.

If I remember correctly, if you don't set up your public profile you will not be in the member directory.  Many people swap on here without setting up their profile. 

Sharon, I just looked again. You're right. If you don't set up a profile, you don't show up. Hmm. Well, she hasn't answered yet. I'm going to wait until tomorrow to mark it, though, just in case...