Some of you send valuable memorabilia out for autographs. Others trade autographs.
All pray the U.S. Postal Service is kind.
Before Christmas, a friend who lives near Seattle sent a small gift box to us as a present.
Her package went out on the 18th via 2-day Priority Mail. She was told that the expected delivery date should have been Dec. 21.
We waited. And waited.
Today, just nine days later than predicted, the box arrived.
Lessons learned?
My friend shared her 18-digit tracking number from her receipt. The number is gold. A magic pass key.
Second, I signed up for the free e-mail delivery updates. If any progress was made, I’d be alerted.
Then, I called our local post office for help. All I saw was “processed at Des Moines USPS Sort Facility” day after day.
I was polite. I didn’t blame anyone. I asked for help finding an explanation. I was told that the facility where my package was trapped would be e-mailed.
This morning, the local post office called.
“Your package is here. It will be delivered during Monday rounds.”
Success! And the explanation? “A sticker seemed to have been placed over part of your address.”
Sure enough, a routing UPC sticker covered up our house number. The sticker was scraped away enough to make delivery possible.
Those USPS workers have a better batting average than I would. I’m grateful for my happy ending, and hope my experience will help you if you get thrown a postal curve in 2014.
Glad the package arrived safely. I’ve been very fortunate this year with my USPS experiences… although the mailbox in my complex was broken into a few weeks ago. It’s actually pretty amazing that their success rate is so high… at least in this neck of the woods (knock on wood).