Hi Mary,

On several occasions I've called up publishers for one reason or
another and they've asked me to give them the number off the mailing
label. I usually then have to explain that not only do I not have the
piece in hand, but I'm not even in the same building with the
periodicals.

However, most of them are able to find the information they need by
looking us up by zip code. Or if I give them one of their invoice
numbers that we've used to pay for a subscription, they can find our
customer number--which is generally all they want.

It doesn't strike me as odd, but it does make me wonder: how do these
publishers deal with claims from vendors?

On 30 May 00 at 9:42, Mary Williams <mwilliams@TARLETON.EDU> wrote:

> Perhaps it's because I'm at the end of a 14-hour stint on Memorial
> Day (long story), but I'm in the midst of the dreaded claims and I
> ran across this note on the invoice:
>
>         A copy of the mailing label must accompany all claims.
>
> I rose wearily from my chair and walked over to the current
> periodicals area and discovered - the periodical in question comes
> in an envelope, there is no mailing label attached.  Am I supposed
> to maintain a file of mailing labels?  I suppose the obvious answer
> is yes - more damn paperwork.  I'm sure that the publisher has a
> good reason for it, but it appears to be just another stumbling
> block in the road...to somewhere. I think I'll take the road home.
> Tomorrow will be better.
>
> Mary, AKA Scarlett O'Hara
>
> Mary W. Williams
> Periodicals Librarian
> Dick Smith Library
> Box T-0450
> Tarleton State University
> Stephenville, TX  76402
>
> (254) 968-9868
> (254) 968-9467  FAX
>
> email: mwilliams@vms.tarleton.edu

Christopher Waldrop
Vanderbilt University Library
Acquisitions Department
Tel: 615-322-2409
Fax: 615-343-8834
"But the truth is you can't buy cool and you can't
create it with a label. Wearing the right things
only takes money, while wearing the wrong things
takes initiative. And what, I should like to know,
is so great about being cool anyway?" -Ben Elton