The short-lived Pony Express of lore…  We need you.  I think.

In 1860, a number of riders apparently rode on horseback at full gallop from roughly St. Louis to Sacramento over a number of days.  They would ride from station to station where they would switch to fresh horses.  These stations were anywhere from five to 25 miles apart given the terrain.  A rider would ride for about 75 miles.  Wild Bill Hickok was a rider in his youth – about 15 years old.  He rode something like 320 miles in a little over 21 hours because the next rider had been killed.  Imagine that…

Anyways, it was a rider on one horse.  One horsepower, you can say.

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About a month ago, I mailed an envelope with two DVDs from Los Angeles to Ohio.  Not much further in distance than the Pony Express route in actuality.

I mailed it on Monday.

It reached its destination eight days later on  Tuesday the following week (because Monday was a holiday).  It took a week, for argument’s sake.

Perhaps the mail truck didn’t see a parked car along the way.

Or maybe the driver wanted a “Pimp-my-Ride” look and stopped off somewhere along the way to get it done?

Or maybe instead of one horsepower, it was one boy-power.  Ignore the air mail signage.  It’s fake.

In today’s time of man-made hearts and boson particles, I feel there canNOT be an excuse for such lackadaisical service.  (Did you hear that Hermione’s invisibility cloak can be a reality?)

And the US Postal Service wonders why they are going out of business… as did the Pony Express after about a year.  They lost $200,000 on about $90,000 in revenues.

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Well, you say, “Give the Postal Service a break.  It was only one piece of mail.”

I knew you’d say that.

On February 26th, I sent via official “Priority Service International” a package to my cousin in Hiroshima.  They alluded to “7 – 10 day service” in their ads.

This package had all the gizmos.  Tracking number.  Web tracking.  Etc.

On March 8th, I checked the status as my cousin hadn’t emailed me to say she got the (surprise) package.  Lo and behold, the last web entry was February 28th, that is was processed through the LAX sort facility…but that was it.

Fini.  No more progress.  Disappeared…like Obama during the Benghazi attack.

I had to call the US Postal Service as you are unable to inquire on an international priority package via email.  Waited close to ten minutes.

She told me the package had left the United States, that it was in Japan, and that it can take “up to seven to ten days for it to be delivered”.

I said, “No, I believe it’s lost here stateside so can you please initiate a trace?  Besides, its been 7 to 10 days.”

Her reply: “You can initiate a complaint (trace) after ten working days as it can take seven to ten days to get delivered.”  Didn’t she just say that?

I said, “Well, I mailed it Monday two weeks ago and today’s Friday.”

She said, “Ten business days will be Monday, March 11.”

You can imagine the response when I asked for a refund.

Can you see steam or the egg frying on my head?

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Monday, March 11th.  TEN working days since I mailed a Priority package to Japan – with the USPS assurance of delivery in “7 to 10 working days…” going through my head.

Had to call again.  One “working day” later to place my complaint and initiate a trace.

This time, she asked me for details.  “How much did you declare?”

“I don’t remember.  Your clerk spent five minutes inputting tons of stuff and I filled out a form in triplicate.  Shouldn’t it tell you on your screen?”

You can imagine the answer…  No.

Had to hang up and look for the receipt from TEN DAYS AGO at home that I fortunately found.

Long story short, called again the next day (the 12th) and at the end, guess what she said?  “It will take up to 21 days for Japan to research, find the package and reply.”

I said again – very nicely – the Japanese aren’t that sloppy.  That the package was still HERE… in your SORT FACILITY at LAX.

She said (politely), “No, the information tells us it was shipped to Japan so its there.”

Double GRRRR….

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So they finally initiated a trace.

And guess what.  The Postal Service was wrong.  It was NOT in Japan.

I was wrong.  It was not at the LAX sort facility.

Instead, the Postal Service found it… likely in the same post office I shipped it from as the package “re-arrived” at the LAX sort facility after the trace was initiated!

The Postal Service wonders why they are losing money.

The workers just don’t care.

Well, I’m making sure my future packages are arriving in Japan by using UPS or FedEx.

I’m through with the pHony express.