Today I received a letter in the mail that had been sent in 2015. The envelope was in excellent

[diva77]

condition. I wonder where the bottleneck was in the USPS system and whether there is more missing mail en route...

[True Dough]

1. I can only hope

one of the ponies wasn't injured while delivering that letter!

[diva77]

2. LOL!!

[Phentex]

3. ever see those overturned mail trucks?

the big ones off in the ditches? Also, the guy who was stealing mail and dumping it? I always think THAT is somebody's mail, somebody's letters & bills, someone's check or birthday card. And I'm not certain how long it takes the post office to recover and resend those items.

[diva77]

7. yikes! maybe that's the story behind my delinquent mail...

[DFW]

4. The big question is, of course......

Did it say "Rush! Time sensitive!" on the outside?

[diva77]

6. Hilarious!

I wonder whether that would've helped - maybe it would have arrived in 2017 instead?

[DFW]

9. Did you check to see if there was too much postage on it?

It might have gone around the world ten times to use up the extra if someone put too much postage on it.........

[Iggo]

10. I like this answer.

[diva77]

13. No evidence of a prepaid postal joyride! The sender was within a 5 min. drive of the letter's

destination. Fun idea, though...

[Archae]

5. There was a running gag in "Lil Abner" about the slow mail...

Took literally decades to get mail.

[diva77]

8. Then I guess 3 years isn't so slow -

[DFW]

15. That's only if you live in Dogpatch. n/t

[hunter]

11. I had a letter that had taken a detour through Australia.

It picked up a couple of postal marks there. I'm guessing it then went into a bag of "stuff we send back to the U.S.A. when we get around to it." That took about six months.

I've also heard about letters slipping through the cracks and getting sucked into the automation, not to be found again until the machines are rebuilt or upgraded.

[diva77]

14. Amazing that it would wind up in Australia; even more amazing that it made its way back to the US!

[DFW]

16. That has happened several times

Some people in Europe or Asia address a letter to a person in "Sheffield" or York" or some town with a generic name, and forget to put the province, state, or whatever on it, and when they forget to put the country as well, a letter like that can make the rounds of the planet before it finds its destination--if it ever does!

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

18. My English grandparents had an address of

39, North Bar Without
Beverley, East Yorkshire

(A brief explanation. There is a gate in what had been the medieval city wall of Beverley called the "North Bar":

The road on what had been the outside of the North Bar was "North Bar Without", and the road on the other side is North Bar Within.

My grandmother had written to some people in Germany, and had included her address for a reply. It was sent to "39, North Bar East Yorkshire" because the German who had addressed it read "Without Beverley" so that was what was put down.

It took my grandmother nearly three months to get it.

[diva77]

19. Addresses that can't help but make me smile -- I love the folksy feeling and how it

includes the description of the location as the official address -- much more interesting than "123 Main St."

[rurallib]

12. About fifteen years ago, I got no bills in February

so I had to look up or call to find out what I owed and got everybody paid on time.

The bills then showed up about 2 weeks before Christmas. I didn't catch at first that these were the bills I hadn't gotten in February.
I kind of panicked because we had spent quite a bit on Christmas and I suddenly feared being short that month until I realized I had already paid those bills.

Yep - took a look and they were dated from the last February.......

[diva77]

20. sounds like it started out as a bummer but at least you had a happy ending (sort of) :)

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

17. In early December, I got really pissed

My wife, who is in really poor health, had qualified for some assistance in paying for a really expensive medical treatment.

We got a letter, dated in late April, saying that she needed to reapply and the deadline was the end of May. The letter was postmarked December 2nd. I had some words with the woman who had sent it.

[diva77]

21. oh no! sorry about your wife's health and delayed mail that could have helped had it

arrived on time ): I hope you were able to resolve things in your favor.

I was lucky - the letter I received was of no importance .