All of my mail (USPS), that's other than local, goes through/comes through Birmingham, AL. That hellhole is almost as bad as Memphis where most mail goes to disappear forever. Right now I have a powder scale that made it to Birmingham and left there late the next morning to get to my local PO. It arrived at my local PO Thursday after my mail lady had already headed out on the route. My scale never moved until Sunday when it was sent to another town, 45 miles east of me where it still is, according to tracking. I don't know when to if I will get the scale. On an outgoing note, I bought a shotgun on GB about 2 months ago. Mailed a USPS MO in Priority Mail with tracking to the FFL in Michigan. It tracked from my local PO to Birmingham the next day. It never moved from Birmingham for 10 days. 14 days after I mailed it, the FFL in Michigan got it........USPS SUCKS!!!!
In college and then after I got off of active duty from Uncle Sam, I worked at a USPS sectional center during Christmas time.
On the loading dock. When packages come into a sectional center, they have 48 hours to get it cleared out of the Post Office. The packages are put into a big rolling metal container, and a date and time stamp is put on the container. As soon as its been 48 hours at one location, it is standard " unofficial" procedure, that the container is thrown on the next truck leaving for somewhere else. Doesn't matter the destination, they just need to get it out of their Post Office, so that is how they do it.
I've worked a couple of seasonal jobs for the PO in my life time, in New England, Virginia and Washington State. Always on the loading doc, being 6 ft, muscular and having some intelligence. The Post Office is not really a career of most 'rocket scientist' types.
People also don't understand how the Post Office works. Say I sent a package or letter from my local Post Office, zip code 01701 ( Framingham Mass). That is a sectional center, so it goes to the receiving side.. is processed to where it is going outbound. Then its transferred to that side of the Post Office. It has 48 hours to be shipped out of that side.
From there is next destination is for the sectional center for its destination. Say Merriweather VA, 221XX. So it is received there and then it has 48 hours to get out to the local PO served by the sectional center, say Manassas VA 22110. From there is goes to the receiver, be it a home address, business address or just a PO box at that post office.
So the package or letter goes thru 4 handling locations total. To be received for each location, its not time in transit that burns up a lot of time... it is where it is parked in Que to be processed by that location. Which can be up to 48 hours at each of those 4 locations or POs.
That is why I can send a letter or package, to a location just up the highway, and send another cross country to the opposite coast on the same day. Each one is handled 4 times at a different location. Yet people wonder why they both can be shipped or sent on the same day, and arrive on the same day, even if one destination is locally, and the other is across the nation. Your item spends most of its time parked to be processed, instead of moving toward its final destination.
I know there are screw ups, but considering the volume that shippers handle. Its a marvel they get as many things right as they do. Screw ups are a very small percentage of the volumes they actually handle.
