Is anyone else's MAIL service *extremely* SLOW lately?

[Sparkly]

Our mail service, to and from, has been unbelievably slow for about three weeks; and some dealings on eBay have me wondering whether this is nationwide. Is something up with the postal service?

Examples:
- Two weeks for a small package of medication, usually takes two days.
- One week for an envelope to get from Ellicott City to Baltimore, postal employee said it'd take one day.
- Two weeks for a regular business-sized envelope to reach Arizona.
- Flat package mailed over two weeks ago from the midwest hasn't arrived.
- Package mailed over two weeks ago to CA hasn't arrived there.

Is it just a local issue, or is anybody else experiencing this? Just curious.

[NightTrain]

1. Well, I'm waiting for for my income tax refund to get here...

...so perhaps to me, it only *seems* that the mail has been slow lately. :shrug:

[BuelahWitch]

2. Yes

Seems like it takes stuff forever to get here. Two pieces of mail coming from 25 miles away from me that were mailed on Friday did not make it here next day. We'll see if they show up tomorrow.

[etherealtruth]

3. I think it comes down to the individuals handling your mail

I think my new postal worker "drinks", but that only affects those of us unfortunate enough to live on his route.

[MADem]

4. Could be the new sniffer machines that USPS is using

If they get a suspicious hit, it stops the line.

If you live in DC or the surrounding areas, or your mail is transiting that area, your mail will be slow.

[Sparkly]

5. Aha!

I didn't know about that.

[Sparkly]

6. Hmmm.... Anthrax --- Kicking this, not sure if it relates

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050315/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/pentagon_anthrax_9

Anthrax Detected at 2 Defense Mailrooms

14 minutes ago

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Another postal facility was closed Tuesday as concern spread over the detection of anthrax in two pieces of mail at military mailrooms. Hundreds of workers were offered antibiotics as a precaution, though no unusual health problems were reported.

[MADem]

7. Apparently the funny farm was hit, all mail is stopped!!!

Gee, that hunt for the anthrax guy is going about as well as the hunt for our nemesis OooooooooooSama!

[Jack The Tab]

8. My ebay sales have been effected as well...

I sell about 50 items per week and it is definitely slower.

Airmail packages are SUPER slow these past few months.

I have figured it is an additional 4 business day delay for what it used to be for domestic mail and a 10 business day delay for airmail.

[Tansy_Gold]

9. Yes, and it cost me $15

Mailed pay-off check on car loan that took two weeks to arrive and be posted to account, costing an additional $15 in interest over what I had calculated when I mailed the check.

Fortunately, I didn't buy the bank's bait-and-switch about the check not arriving -- they wanted me to stop payment and reissue, which would have ended up costing me about $250. At the time they were telling me to do this, they already had the check in hand. They'd have deposited it in advance of the stop payment, collected on that check, collected on the replacement check, collected on the overdraft fee, collected on the overdraft protection to the credit card fee plus the interest, plus collected their own interest on the overpayment until they got around to refunding it, and heaven only knows how long that would take.