Hi VG and welcome to Garden Web. You have got the right idea on the RRs but generally a real RR will be just seeds. Plants are done by swaps as postage and time would not make plants very good travelers to be going on and on.
There is a lot of information in the Frequently Asked Questions which are DIFFERENT for each forum. You might find more answers there.
Best way to be sure something you want will be in the box is to set up a direct trade. Even that is not a guarantee but it generally works. If you buy plants by mail you discover that even from commercial nurseries you don't always get what you want. This is most true when plants are traded using the common name.
Hope this helps and others will add their ideas too.

Beth,
Thank you! I've been reading some of the swap posts and I don't think I want to particpate:-) I don't think I could ever pick out gifts that people would like. It would just be too stressful... lol! Now if it were all plants or seeds, maybe I could do it but I don't eat candy so can't imagine buying it for someone else. I don't care for little things to sit or hang around so I couldn't pick out one anybody would like. I guess I'm just wierd:-)
VG

Hey VG most of us are "wierd" in one way or another. We each get to pick our own style of wierd and somehow IT Works :o)

Well, yeah, I guess you're right about that:-)