When I was working for the PO when live animals came in,the recipient got a phone call as early as 6:00 AM. Arrangement were made for the customer to come in and pick the critters up or were delivered seperatly usually by a maintenance man. There was no way we were going to have chicks or ducklings, or bees(the most commonly shipped animals) ride around in an un airconditioned delivery truck for several hours.
When a package is handed off to the PO by UPS or fed-Ex it does not arrive late. The three delivery services strive to have their couriers on the road delivering by 10:00 AM.
The FED -EX or UPS sorter will pick a handoff package out of the container and onto the appropriate truck(that services the PO address). The packages will be delivered to the PO as the address falls on the route. No unique or special delivery. This will always occur after the USPS carriers have left for the day. The PO will then scan the package as "Arrived at PO",the following morning the package will be sorted to the route and be scanned as "out for delivery" as your carrier delivers the final delivered scan is completed.
It is always best if you deal directly with your carrier,and not deal with a clerk in the office. The shorter the line of communication the more accurate the message is.
I worked for them for almost 30 years and I will say that service from the southern states seemed to be the worst for delayed mail. Items from the West coast would often arrive sooner than an item mailed the same day from a couple of the southern states,with FL and Ga. being the worst offenders.
