I rarely visit the main PBS home page, as my bookmark is set to go right to my main account page. Work has been so nuts I haven't had time to even peek at PBS from there in months...but yesterday was a slower afternoon and I typed in the URL which brought me to the main home page.

On the right hand side, there is that "Welcome back, Cheryl!" section, and below where it gives the credit/money balance and savings, there are the reminders. It said, "1 wrapper to print, 2 books to mark received, 4 books en route to you." What is the difference between the "2 books to mark received" and "4 books en route to you?"

I do indeed have 4 books (total) en route to me. Why only 2 to mark received? ::scratches head::  I haven't gotten them yet, so I have no reason to go and mark them received. It's not a big deal, just puzzled about the wording of it, and the need for 2 different categories to denote the same thing.

Cheryl

That does make sense, Julie...there are two books that were mailed about a week ago, the others just within a day or two. At first I thought it might have something to do with DC and being scanned or something, but only one of these four has PBS DC on it, so that can't be it. As you say, it's kind of annoying but since I almost never even see that page it's not a big deal--was just curious. The PBS gurus must all be sleeping. LOL

Cheryl

I asked TPTB about this awhile ago and now I can't find the reply to give you the exact timing.  All books start out as "En Route" and once a certain amout of time has  gone by, they switch to "books to mark received".   But dang it, I can't remember the timing!

My home page looks a little different.  On the "Home" page, it shows "1 Book en route to you" and on the Account page it shows "Books to be marked received when they arrive"   This text seems more user-friendly and accurate. 

I wonder why we're seeing different things?  The person just marked it mailed about 20 minutes ago.  Will the text will change after some amount of time?

I have 3 Books Enroute to Me, and 1 Books I've Mailed.   The enroute books were mailed 1/13 & 1/17, so they haven't crossed the magic dateline into Books to Mark Received territory.  For some reason I'm thinking that happens about 14 or 15 days, but could be mistaken on that.

It used to be that the books enroute to me and the books to marked received on the homepage added up to the total # of books that are coming my way.  That doesn't appear to be the case.  Now when a book hits the "magical amount of time" it is listed as both a book enroute to me AND a book to mark received. So right now I have 1 to mark received and 3 enroute to me, so it seems to me that that means I have 4 books coming to me, but I don't.  I have 3.  It doesn't make sense to me at all.

I'm seeing the same thing.  Right now it shows that I have three books en route to me and one book to mark received.  I actually have a total of three books on their way to me.  I agree with Jenna--my memory is that the totals of the two used to reflect how many books were actually on their way to me, but not any more.  It is a little confusing, and I don't understand what the reasoning is for two different categories.

IIRC the time it switched from one to the other was 2 weeks.

Laura and Jenna -  I think the 2 numbers are supposed add up to total Enroute, maybe you need to clear cache and cookies?

No, it's like that on two different computers and has been for over a week.  The numbers have changed as I've received books and other books were mailed, but don't add up correctly.

I actually posted about this on 1/14 from home and the numbers said

when I had 1 book in the mail to me.  Now (from work) they say

and I have 3 books in the mail to me. 

Melanie--

Just checked by opening PBS in Internet Explorer (I always use Firefox)--it still shows 3 books enroute to me and 1 book to be marked received.  I have a total of three books on their way to me.  *Shrug* -- not really a big deal, just a little confusing.

Sounds like a bug (where the 2 numbers don't add up).  Send feedback to the PBS team so they can log it and fix it when they have the time.

I sent in feedback and just heard back from PBS that it is working correctly.

Dear Jenna,

We're sorry for the confusion. The "book to mark received" is a book that has been en route for more than 2 weeks. The "books en route to me" = all of the books that are currently en route to you. "Bamboo People" has been in the mail since 1/4, so this is the "book to mark received."

We hope this information is helpful. Have a great day!

The PaperBackSwap Team

www.PaperBackSwap.com

I still don't like it.  I feel like it is assuming I have the book and am just not marking it received.  Perhaps that's not the intention, but that's really how it comes across - that I am doing something dishonest by not marking it received.  But I really haven't received the book.  And I can't prove it, but I really feel like the two categories used to add up to the total.

The "book to mark received" is a book that has been en route for more than 2 weeks.

Well, I'm sorry, if that's the designation, then something isn't working right. It still says "2 to mark received" and 4 books en route, but the two books en route to me that were mailed the longest time ago were marked mailed on 1/11 and 1/14 respectively--just a day over one week and only 5 days for the other! The other two were mailed earlier this week.

Again, it's not a problem--I'm NOT going to mark the books received til I do get them, same as always. That page is not even a page I look at but once in a blue moon, but it just seems weird and confusing to have them show up that way, and I have to wonder how confused some new folks who don't know the ins and outs of PBS yet must be!

Cheryl

Yeah, I was thinking about that.  The book that has been in the mail since 1/4 should have just moved over to "book to mark received" yesterday on the 18th, but on 1/14, it was the only book enroute to me and was listed as to mark received.

I wrote PBS again and said what I said above about feeling like the designation is telling me to mark something mailed before it arrives and also mentioning that the books are moving to the designation before 2 weeks have passed.  They didn't respond to the first part, but said this:

If you notice this again (a book en route for less than 2 weeks listed as a "book to mark received" let us know at the time so we can look at it.

So if you have one that doesn't meet the 2 weeks mailed criteria, you might want to send in feedback so they can look into it.

I did receive one of my books yesterday (the one mailed on 1/11) so now it says 'one book to mark received.' The three books still en route were mailed on 1/14, 1/15 and 1/18, so all of them mailed LESS THAN ONE WEEK ago...so I sent a feedback to let the team know that their system isn't working as designed.

Also let them know that I thought that sub-category was unnecessary and 1) confusing for new people and 2) insulting to those in good standing who do mark books received--WHEN THEY GET THEM--as they're supposed to.

Cheryl

Strangely, I just looked at my home page and the numbers add up today.  I have 3 books in the mail to me and the stats say 1 to mark received and 2 enroute to me.

I'm glad feedback was sent. I've found it annoying for awhile - I often end up mousing over the check mark and get irked when it says I have "x" books to mark received when I have none. I mark them received when they are, and thought it could be confusing for new people.

I just got notice that 2 books I ordered had been mailed.  Great.  Came here and on the main page I have to 2 books to marked received.  They were just put in the mail today!  Guess I need to let TPTB know the system isn't working for me either.

The same thing happened to me, Sandy.  Two books were marked mailed and within 10 minutes, they were listed as to mark received.  I replied to my e-mail thread with PBS about it, so hopefully they'll address it.

I didn't get a reply to my email about the problem, but I noticed the next day the message had changed to en route.  Much to my surprise and joy, the books arrived today.  Media Mail is moving quickly at the moment.