“Dear PoPville,
People should not use USPS Priority certified mail if they have any concern about the timing of a delivery or even ensuring that a delivery occurs.
I sent letters to two neighbors on August 8th to satisfy the DC Department of Buildings’ neighbor notification process.
As of today (August 22),
they not only haven’t been delivered, but nobody at the Post Office can tell me where they are and on the online tracking system they are in limbo. (I should note that I did not request signatures, just verification of the delivery.) The self-service machine said delivery would take 2-3 days when I purchased the postage.
The clerk at the USPS 14th and U Street branch informed me last week that because there is no delivery guarantee, there is no limit on how long the delivery can take. I asked, “so it could be delivered a year from now?” and she said “that’s possible.”
In the meantime, I reproduced the plans and other documents and resent them via FedEx (shout out for surprisingly good service at 14th and Irving FedEx), and they arrived today.
This is just a warning that this USPS Priority certified service is a scam. If you have any concern about your document arriving, much less at any particular time, do not use it.”