The Package

There was an item I was purchasing as a Christmas gift and the closest location for in-person acquisition was in Brookfield, WI. Due to this, I decided to order it from that retailer online and pay the shipping cost. This began the fiasco of a package purchase and its delivery from its source of origin to my home in McFarland, WI.

Upon placing the order on Dec 10, I was quite pleased that it was scheduled to arrive on Saturday, December 13. Some packages take weeks from date of order. The package, from the USPS tracking code, originated in a Minneapolis suburb, and hence, they allocated just a couple days of shipping. My wife has ordered some items, before I placed this order, and they are not due until, disappointingly, after Christmas. This time of year, or maybe any time of year, you never know what you will get when it comes to package delivery.

Well, my package did not arrive Saturday as predicted, but I figured it would arrive Monday. Monday delivery, for the US Postal Service, came and went. I then did the tracking option and found that the package was in Sharon, WI. Sharon is located in Walworth County with its southern border being the Wisconsin--Illinois State Line. This small community may even have some Bear fans, not that it matters. For some reason, when going to Illinois, I think of the quote of Henry Jones, Sr to his son Indiana (Henry, Jr) when in Berlin and watching a Nazi rally: "My boy, we are pilgrims in an unholy land."

Madison's main PO, Milwaukee St

That evening my pilgrimage to trouble shoot the whereabouts of the package began. In a bizarre situation, the tracking had it from the post office of origin west of the big city of Minneapolis, to its twin city to the east. It then went to Madison. Now, in all the same day it showed it in Sharon, then McFarland and 15 minutes later back in Sharon. Overly, confusing, but I was delighted to know that the post office had figured out the space-time continuum, maybe using Doc Brown's old DeLorean. But, with what happened, as you patient readers will find out, it made me wonder if the flux capacitor had failed.

Setting aside the space-time continuum and doc Brown's flux capacitor, I checked my order to assure I had the correct address and zip code. It was all correct. I then called the company who I asked if they could verify that they used the correct address and zip. (I started with the company because I figured there were few places in the world that could compete for complexity of bureaucracy with the USPS, one being the DMV, and the other being the Catholic Church.)  I was put on hold, and the call was cancelled. I called back and was told they had used the correct address and zip code, and that perhaps there was a forwarding address. They were following the PO tracker which said if an item is in the wrong location either the zip code is wrong or there was a forwarding address. The PO apparently never calculated that there would be a failure on their end. We never have set up a forwarding address. We had received other mail that day, but it made me wonder had someone put a forwarding address using our address. 

V of Sharon, Walworth County, WI

I then called the PO and was connected through a series of contacts to report a missing package. Concerning to me was that the PO auto call told me the package had been delivered to an address in Sharon, WI at 9:15 that morning. Given this, I placed a lost package request, which information I had to receive by text. Lucky, my mother-in-law did not have to handle this as she would scream discrimination for old people and people that do use text messaging. I placed the lost package request. However, being concerned with the suggestion of a forward order and that it was said to be delivered, I ventured to the Madison main PO. Being 19th in line, I was somewhat surprised at the efficiency of the two, then three, clerks who handled the packages, stamp purchases, and the like. I put my issue to the clerk and to my surprise she said they they lacked jurisdiction over the package. This surprised me because all of McFarland's mail goes through there and sometimes carriers pick up their mail at that location. She did check the tracking number and had more information available to her than I did, and said, "Oh, it was mis-shipped." She could not tell me anything about a devious forwarding order. I went home, and figured I would go to the McFarland PO on Tuesday when it opened at 8:30 am. 

McFarland PO, Long St

Just after 8 am Tuesday I got a call from the McFarland PO. We discussed the package and the postal representative said, yes, it was in, or had been in Sharon, and it was on a truck for delivery, but a carrier caught the odd address and realized the wrong zip code and so sent it back to Madison. I figured that 9:15 am delivery in the auto call was probably the time the package was on the truck. I suppose the post office figures if a package is out for delivery it gets delivered. The McFarland PO rep said it could well be back in McFarland, but he did not have time to sort through all the packages in the back, so he suggested to wait to see if it was delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday. The  package arrived that day. I was surprised at the quick attention to the matter by getting a call from the McFarland PO right after 8 am.

What surprised me is that with all the scanning and reading equipment, and a label generated by a MN PO that it got to the wrong location and it took a human to catch what was likely a mechanical error, although I suppose it could be human error. Sharon's (village of) zip code is 53585, and McFarland's is 53558. Some equipment, or person showed some dyslexia, but I get that it can be easy to confuse the two zip codes. I guess the post office has yet to solve the space time continuum, but I am happy to know that the package arrived a day after having been pulled off a truck in Sharon, WI. Kudos to the USPS for attention to this package at a time when I am sure they are swamped with packages.