The Travels of the Meandering Package


 

 On September 6th this year I sent a package to my friend Buffalo Bob Holden in Townshend Vermont. I sent it media rate, since it had a book and and a CD in it, and that's the cheapest way to send it. I fully expected it to take a few weeks to get to him. Since I don't pay the full price of first class mail, which would be roughly twice the amount or more than media mail, I expect it to take longer. However, what I didn't expect was that it would take two months and ten days to arrive. Fortunately, there is a tracking number on the package that allows me to see the progress of the package. To say the least, if this package was eligible for airline miles, it could probably take a trip to Europe and back with miles to spare. One other time I had sent Buffalo a similar package- media rate. That one also took over six weeks as I recall, perhaps longer. When he asked his postmaster about that one, the guy mentioned that along the way it had been delivered to several distribution centers around the country that had experienced flooding, so the packages were re-routed elsewhere. It happened like three times. Apparently there was a lot of flooding going on around the country at the time, or perhaps the post office buildings were built on flood plains, I don't know. The following is an exhaustive list of the post offices and distribution centers that this little package has traveled. I haven't spoken to Buffalo yet to find out if there is anything left of the package, or if it's just the label that made it to the final destination. That happened to me once. After tracking a package I had sent from Colorado Springs, the mailing label landed back in Colorado where it originated, sans the contents- two new sweatshirts, some assorted miscellaneous things and a number of books that I had picked up to read. That was a pisser. Anyway, as hard to believe as this is, here is where the package has traveled.

Lv. Wasilla        -9/6 2023

Ar. Anchorage - 9/6

Lv. Anchorage-  9/8

Ar.  Seattle -      9/15

Lv. Seattle -       9/15

Ar. Anchorage-  9/26

Ar. Seattle -       10/6

Lv. Seattle -       10/6

Ar. Atlanta -      10/18

Lv. Atlanta -      10/19

Ar. St. Louis -   10/19

Lv. St. Louis -   10/19

Ar. Toulon Ill. - 10/20

Ar. Peoria Ill. - 10/22

Ar. St. Louis -   10/23

Lv. St. Louis -   10/25

Ar. Peoria Ill. -  10/25

Ar. St. Louis -   10/26

Lv. St. Louis -   10/26

Ar. St. Louis -    11/3

Lv. St. Louis -    11/4

Ar. Peoria Ill. -   11/5

Ar. St. Louis -     11/8

Lv. St. Louis -     11/8

Ar. St. Louis -     11/9

Lv. St. Louis -     11/10

Ar. Peoria Ill. -   11/10

Ar. Champaign Ill. -11/13

Lv. Champaign Ill.- 11/14

Ar. Springfield Ma.-11/15

Lv. Springfield Ma.- 11/15

Ar. Nashua Nh. -       11/15

 Ar. Townshend Vt. - 11/16


I wish I was making this up,  but I'm not. I don't know what the problem was in St. Louis. It went back and forth between the distribution center and something else umpteen times. I can only say that people who want more government in their lives either stand to benefit from some government payout or they are nuts.


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