>> Send Seeds to Host: November 29, 2015
>> Deadline for seeds receipt by host: December 11, 2015

Will trading continue until Nov 29?

Hopefully if we use Priority Mail, we can mail them out somewhat later than Nov. 29 (Sunday)?

I was thinking about how to get a head start on packing up my outgoing seeds, since I'll be away for Thanksgiving.

I've copy-pasted my "sold" list, and it is already sorted by recipient, so that's handy for checking and labeling each outgoing baggie.

I might re-sort it by variety so I can "pick" all the seeds of one variety at one time, so I don't re-open each tub and bundle multiple times.

... Yup, in MS Word: "Table Tools" | Sort. Now I have an out-of-date pick list sorted by variety.

Ideally, I would be packing them up already, but then how would I find the last few days worth of trades, so I could add JUST THOSE when I come back from Thanksgiving?

I went to my profile and changed Site Preferences to show dates and times as actual dates, not "XX hours ago". Now the Swap's "Recent Events" list shows actual dates.

I should wait for a "recent events update", and then quickly take a snapshot of my "Sold" list and note the time and date. Probably those happen just before or just after the flurry of trades that used to occur at 00:00:01 ATP Seed Swapping Time (UTC).

Then I could pack all those in my Sold list at that time.. When the swap closes, I could go to Recent Events again and copy-paste everything between my snapshot and the end of the swap. (Several days, but probably few trades.)

Search those recent rows for my name in the Affected Item column.
(I can't sort on my name because it is buried in the Affected Item field.)
Pack new packets for JUST THOSE those recent trades.


One possible option for future swaps would be to allow members to "freeze their lists" a day or three before the formal end of the swap.

That would stop ongoing requests from them so they could pack up. their seeds secure in the knowledge that no new requests will "get lost" or require lengthy re-searching of long lists already packed.

(I could un-check every item I've offered to get the effect of a freeze, but that seems contrary to the intent of the swap, and I do have a work-around.)

You can do it however you like, but keep in mind that on the evening of November 29th you will receive notification that the swap is over and that it's time to send the seeds. You will be given a printable report of everything to send, grouped by member.

So at that time you could print out your report and just check off and confirm each pile that you've made for each member, checking them off one by one. You will be asked to include a copy of the printed sheet for each member's pile. When you print out the report, you'll use scissors to cut off each person's section for inclusion in their pile.

>> just check off and confirm each pile that you've made for each member

That's a good point - once I have the final report, I can just go down it, checking off what's already packed, by comparing paper lists. I wouldn't have to open each outgoing baggie to see what's already packed and what's recent.

Or maybe, since pre-Thanksgviing is also a busy time and I'm down to just tonight and part of Wednesday night, I'll just START packing after Nov. 29, instead of trying to be FINISHED packing on that date.

Thanks!

Right. You'll have almost 2 weeks to get the seeds into the hands of the host (me).

Just a thought, what if someone doesn't have a printer or their computer is down like mine was? I'll have mine back in plenty of time but I'm sure not everyone has a printer.

I am packing as we go but I keep having to go back and double check. That was the reason I suggested being able to check off on our sold list what was packed. I have a lot of seeds going out and a bit hard for me to keep track of. I didn't want to wait until it was over to do them all.

What a timely thread! I'm actually packing up everyone's seeds now based on what people have currently 'bought' from me. (I actually came on to post @GardenQuilts - I hope you love poppies...the seeds are so small, I've included a 'few' extra )

It seems that everyone pretty much has what they want since everyone has unused tickets, so I decided to go ahead and get the packing process started. Labels have been printed and put on the bags and now I'm just waiting for the 'finish' mark to arrive so that I can finalize everything, check my list twice....and send out the seeds to all beta swappers, both naughty and nice.

luvsgrtdanes said:Just a thought, what if someone doesn't have a printer or their computer is down like mine was? I'll have mine back in plenty of time but I'm sure not everyone has a printer.

Staples, Office Depot, etc...would all be great places for these people to go. They can also just transcribe their online list to a piece of paper, I would imagine, and that should work. For the very small percentage of people that this might be an issue for, I'm sure exceptions can be made. (I'd imagine that, at most, 1 in a 100 or so people might have a problem with printing out a checklist for a swap...it should make it easy to narrow down whose list it is in that case, and use the process of elimination to deduce any hard-to-read handwriting.)

Good question, though.

If you don't have a printer, it's not the end of the world, it'll just be a lot more inconvenient for you. You'll still get the report and you'll use that report to pack up each individual member's collection of dibs. I guess you will do it next to your computer so you can see the screen and fill the order on the table next to the computer? The only downside is you wouldn't be able to include the reports in the mailing.

That would be me since my phone isn't connected to my printer. But it isn't that big of a deal to me. I can still give a list-just one I made myself.

This is a sneak peak at what the final report will look like. There's a lot of instructions and hopefully in all swaps of the future, the members will take the time to read it and follow the instructions carefully. I tried to be as clear and concise as I could be.

Thanks, Dave.

Ditto. Thanks Dave.
Mine are all divvied up with printed lists that I will replace with the official version when we receive it. I can add any new requests and check each pack one last time. This has been a painless process due to the automated record keeping for this swap.

Looks good.

Another great time saver. Even if I couldn't print it out, how nice to have a list of all of the seeds going to each person. Fantastic.

I'm still kind of mulling over the idea of not having a printer...

Phone users... there are people out there who do not have a computer at all and do all their internet use on their phone.

Those people obviously have a lot better eyesight than I do!

I have wonderful laser printers at work ... and a long-dried-up piece-of-junk-jet printer at home.

A chill just went through me ... people read this site on CELL PHONES?? So any post longer than a twitter (or is it a "tweet"?) seriously inconveniences many people?

RickCorey said:I have wonderful laser printers at work ... and a long-dried-up piece-of-junk-jet printer at home.

A chill just went through me ... people read this site on CELL PHONES?? So any post longer than a twitter (or is it a "tweet"?) seriously inconveniences many people?

So in other words, your post are a nightmare Rick.