How do you know what your position is on a book that you've posted?  In other words, say there are 35 copies of William Shatner's Star Trek Memories and you know that you're one of them.  How do you know where you are in the FIFO system?

There is no way to know.

I was wondering that also.  No way to know UGH.  I wanted to refresh my shelf and remove some the massive quantity books.  Wish I could know my position to choose whether to remove them or not.

You can get a feel for where its' going to be when you post it..but after that there's just no way.  If you REALLY want to know, find that book, by ISBN, and add it to your Reminder List....before you post.  On your RL you can see how many copies are already posted.  If you post your's immediately, it's safe to assume you are next.  After that, though, you just don't know how many have been ordered or added. 

I will say, just because there are a lot in the system doesn't necessarily mean a book won't move.  Someone could use the "Order More" button and select it directly from your shelf, or you might become interested in Box o Books at some point and then your place in line really is meaningless because people are shopping your shelf directly.  Also, I've had books with many copies move quickly and I've had the only copy sit on my shelf *forever*!

They have said they are working on having it say not where you are in line but the rate of requests of the books.  Like Beth said sometimes a heavily posted book will move faster than a not so heavily posted book simply from the Order More From Member Button and just from it being more popular.  I"ve had some Manga books on my shelf where I have the only copy or one of only a few and they are just sitting there. But I've posted books with 300 copies in the system and had them ordered within a month.  I find people frequently add them when I've posted a WL book. 

So if you have the place to store them it's worth keeping them for awhile. I've only had a couple of books that spent more than a year on my shelf. 

Thanks for letting me know.  Maybe someday there will be a way to post that, too, for us. 

Personally, I'd rather see what # my book is in the FIFO line than just have the popularity index that Mary mentioned.  I mean, you can sort of gauge the rate of requests from your FIFO position - note a book with its position when you post it, and if it's still sitting at the same number a few months later, then it's time to donate to Goodwill.  And from what others have said on the boards, it seems that the popularity index is a ways yet from implementation, whereas showing your FIFO position seems identical, for implementation purposes, to the current WL system.