When Bad Postal Service Happens to Good People

For once in my life, I think I am ahead of the game, making my revisions in a timely manner, mailing my entry by Priority Mail a week ahead of the date it has to be in hand -- life on track, as it were.

WRONG. Again.

I mailed the package with Delivery Confirmation, mostly for my peace of mind so I could see the exact date it was delivered. Starting Monday, the first day it could possibly be delivered according to the P.O., I checked the website regularly. Still showing only that they accepted it at the Asheville PO on Friday, the 14th -- nothing indicating it ever left Asheville.

Since all this following up was eating into my "re-organizing the office so I can slam out the rest of the book" time, I signed up for the USPS e-mail notification service. They did send me an e-mail a while later -- advising me the package was accepted at the Asheville PO on Friday, October 14th. Major bureaucratic DUH.

All day yesterday I waited -- nothing. Finally, late last night I called a friend who works at the PO's distribution center. Her extended "Uhhhhhhh..." before she started answering my question should have been a warning to sit down. Apparently the center is DAYS behind sorting and moving the mail. She checked with her manager who said the Priority Mail was not as far behind and it probably went out on Tuesday and would still make the Thursday delivery. I was told to check the website this morning after 6:00 am -- guess what?

My package was accepted at the Asheville PO on Friday, October 14. ARGGGHHHHHH!

Now I have just e-mailed the two contact people I know of in California to see if 1) they may have actually received the package and the USPS just hasn't caught up with itself yet, or 2) if they will be there tomorrow to accept an overnight FedEx Express delivery (do you KNOW how much that costs?!?). Time differences freak me out and these good people who volunteer to staff these competitions have their own lives and jobs, so who knows when I will hear something.

Had an untrasound scheduled for today which I have cancelled so I can work on this. No big deal. It would only have shown my guts tied in knots anyway. (Insert string of livid obscenities here.) On the bright side, got news yesterday that my 3rd and final entry has made it to the semi-finals and had the highest judges score for my category (one even gave me perfect scores across the board and said it would definitely get published, no problem -- apparently she does not know about the USPS). Finalists will be announced November 1.

See? The sun still shines. Of course, I just realized that "sun" is nowhere to be found in the old "neither rain, nor snow, or gloom of night" adage of the Post Office. Does that mean on sunny days they don't deliver at all?

I need chocolate...