U.S.P.S.

It is illegal to mail alcohol via U.S.P.S. In February I mailed Jesse and the gang some unmarked bottles (arguably "live yeast samples"). It went a little something like this.

Clerk: "Do you have anything liquid, fragile, explosive or perishable in there?"
Me: "Yes, pickles, but they are well packed"

I didn't lie, there was a jar of pickles in there along with the live yeast samples. A delicious jar of pickles I might ad.

Anyway, about a month after I mailed the package, Jesse still hadn't received it, but another friend of mine in the same city had already received a package (which did not contain questionable material) which I had sent the same day from the same location.

Today, about 2 months after I had mailed the package, it finally arrived, but not to where I had sent it. I mailed it to Los Angeles from Sheridan, WY but had my Milford, NH for a return address because I was leaving Wyoming the following day. The package arrived in today's mail in Milford, NH. WTF?

The following photos may shed some light?


The box, as far as I can tell, has not been opened since I sealed it in February. The arrows were drawn by a postal clerk somewhere.


Note the date and place of postage: Feb 24 07, Sheridan, WY.
I am sure the postage is ample, as the clerk weighed it himself.


Note the date and new zip code sticker: 03/30/07, 03055 (Milford, NH's code)


LAX is the abbreviation for the Los Angeles airport, and MHT is the abbreviation for the Manchester, NH airport. Note the date: 04/13/07
Okay, so what I think may have happened is that it got x-rayed somewhere between Sheridan and Los Angeles and after some deliberation (2 weeks, 2/24 - 3/30) was deemed unsuitable for delivery for security reasons and was stickered to be returned to sender (Milford, NH). At that point it made its way to Manchester, NH, a major mail routing point for NH, but he last sticker shows us that it was rerouted back from Manchester to Los Angeles. Who knows, it may have even reached Jesse's doorstop before the mail carrier realized it was supposed to be RTS'd.

But Mr. Peabody, what does all this mean?
a) I broke the law and karma got me?
b) Jesse and the gang missed out on good "live yeast samples" and homemade pickles?
c) I get to enjoy the pickles that Jesse never received, but the beer is probably expired?
d) The United States Postal Service jacked me out of $12.61 of my hard earned money?
e) Next time I should try FedEx or UPS (although it is against company policy to mail alcohol through them, it is not illegal like with USPS)?