USPS... when you only care that it gets there (but when doesn't matter)

A little frustration and lessons learned.  It feels good to take action on our adoption.. knowing we are getting one step closer to the status of DTR (dossier to Rwanda) when the clock really starts ticking.  However, in this case, going fast has slowed us down.  Reading through lots of blogs about adoption, Mary and I realized how important it is that your documents are delivered on time and you know that they got there.  We decided it made sense to use a higher level delivery service for important documents going to government agencies (like items that need to be certified) so that you know the agency received them.  In many cases, we read about times when a couple was waiting for a document to be returned but the agency never got them or lost them in their mail room.  When dealing with bureaucracies, these things happen...

However, when it came to sending back our signed agreement so that we could get a family counselor assigned from AWAA and get the detailed requirements on the "paper chase," we figured since it was only across town and it was a Saturday, we would mail it out via USPS Priority Mail (I even sprung for the delivery confirmation) rather than wait until I could mail it via FedEx from my office.  After all, the AWAA headquarters is only 16 miles from the Ashburn post office.  Surely it would get there either Monday or at worst Tuesday.  However on Tuesday, when I first checked, the only thing the tracking number stated was that they accepted our package in the Ashburn USPS office.  Mary and I took a positive look, we discovered from the kind folks in my Herndon mail room that USPS delivery confirmation can hardly be called tracking by any normal definition of the word, so we figured it was just that they hadn't updated their systems.  We even figured surely, our agreements were at AWAA just awaiting processing.  However, this morning I checked again, hoping to see that it was actually delivered Monday or Tuesday and they finally updated the tracking information.  Instead, the results:

• Processed through Sort Facility, December 16, 2009, 4:23 am, STERLING, VA 20166
• Acceptance, December 12, 2009, 9:40 am, ASHBURN, VA 20147

I have to say... I was more than a bit angry.  I try to have grace for the USPS as I'm sure they are busy with the holiday packages and everything.  To put this in context for those outside of NoVA... Sterling, VA is home to a large Northern Virginia central sorting facility and it neighbors Ashburn.  These facilities are less than two miles from each other!  At this rate, I'm sure AWAA will receive our letter by Christmas.  But really, the USPS charges extra for "priority" mail??  Amusingly, the cost to ship something priority is roughly the same as the corporate discount that my company extends to employees when I ship via FedEx Overnight.  So, as you probably have figured out by this point... this is the last trip to the post office we will make during this process.  Anyway... sorry for the rant, I'm sure in the large scheme of things, a few days will not make much difference.  I promise not to post about delivery related delays again... although since we'll be using FedEx from now on, we probably won't have any!