I was thinking the problem was a bit FURTHER UP the mail chain than your local/regional hub - if you can talk to people, that is always the best.
Mail hubbing is a strange but necessary beast - our mail (all but "In-Town mail" is sent to our state capitol of Trenton for processing, where it is distributed and then resent to all the other towns, local, state and elsewhere to national.
Even if I wanted (let's say) to mail a letter to a friend in Toms River (a town 5 miles from here) it STILL needs to go to Trenton (45 miles away) first, then sent to the correct Toms River Post Office - there are three. So the old saying "You can't get there from here holds true in the postal delivery service.
But I never complain about their service - if you can find ANYONE ELSE to delive a letter to any place in the country for $.37c I want to know - especially in the world of EMAIL where the USPS took the biggest hit, they keep on trucking and offering competitive services at competitive prices.
My only concern (and I had a long talk with my mail lady yesterday) is delivery of live insects: she has delivered roaches, butterflies, bees, ants and other insects for many years - she doesn't mind it one bit and she said she's never had any issues as long as the SHIPPING CAGES or BOXES meet or exceed the requirements of the postal service.
Shipments from a certified bee farm using approved crates SHOULD NEVER be an issue - when it does become one, then we all have troubles. I'm not driving to Georgia (except to visit Beth :P ) or anywhere else just to pickup bees and even that trip to NYC or Philadelphia I exampled would seem totally unnecessary and I'm sure some service out there would gladly take over the slack.
I only mention this because a few years ago, there was a VERY SERIOUSLY PROPOSAL by the USPS to end live shipping completely - leaving a void that hopefully the other shippers would restructure to handle the millions of pounds (literally) of insects shipped annually.
Glad all is okay Al - I guess retirement allows a bit mellower view of such issues (I am truly envious - especially with a full-timers motorcoach in the driveway) but I'd still be on the phone with somebody though - if only to make sure NO ONE ELSE had to drive 2 hours to pickup bees MAILED from 7 states away.