Yes it is! I was awaiting a contract from Colorado to Connecticut that was mailed Priority Mail six days ago, and it still hasn't arrived! How come? Where did it go? I don't have a tracking number. The sender does, but has not responded to me yet. Meantime, I wait and wait. Who knows how this will turn out?
The Pony Express during the 19th Century required eight days to make a delivery from Connecticut to Colorado. They delivered the mail accurately, i.e. to the rightful person. There were occasional robbers. But the Pony Express had very fast horses and there were Way Stations to mount a fresh horse. The rider could also rest and eat at the local saloon in a hotel or inn.
When I had my own independent record company in New York City many years ago, I had to send master tapes to Los Angeles for manufacturing a thousand 45 rpm copies. Federal Express was new and I didn't like them sending everything to Memphis for destinations elsewhere. Also, a film producer I knew had mailed some original color negatives to his studio via FedEx, and they got lost!
He had $500 insurance on the package, but FedEx required him to produce the original receipts for the negatives. It was an older movie, most of the actors were dead. I suggested he offer to exhume the bodies and take new photos, as proof for the insurance payment. His $500 check arrived the next day. I was rewarded with lunch at "21" in New York.
Rather than trust the USPO or FedEx for sending my master tapes coast to coast, I would drive out to Idlewild Airport (JFK) and look over the passengers traveling to Los Angeles. Then, I would approach a well dressed person in their 30's and ask him or her to deliver my package for $20. (That was about $200 in today's economy).
I did this a dozen times and nobody ever turned me down. Nor did they ever fail to deliver the very next day! All this was way before 9/ll, the Vietnam War and today's security scrutiny at airports.
In earlier days it was possible to drive to the airport, park in a nearby garage, walk up to the ticket counter and buy a cheap ticket anywhere in the country.
So, let's show a little more respect for our parents and grandparents. They had it better and they did it better.
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