Recently, by happenstance, on the same day I mailed a series of envelopes from Washington, DC to people across the country.
One of the envelopes was mailed to California – it arrived within three days of being mailed. An envelope that was mailed to Boston arrived five days after being mailed and an envelope that was mailed to Minneapolis had not arrived 8 days after being mailed.
At that point I decided to run an “unscientific study” and look at the amount of time it takes for envelopes mailed on the same day from Washington, DC to arrive at various cities around the country.
Each envelope contained an instruction to email me when the letter was received and included “compensation” for their effort. In most cases, the “compensation” was a $2 bill and later in the project $5 bills (and in at least one case, a $10 bill).
Envelopes were mailed to a total of 18 people on 4 different days, 10 on the first day, 6 on the second day, 2 on the third day, and 1 on the fourth day.
Envelopes were mailed to 12 states and D.C. The states were California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri New York, Maine, Texas, Idaho, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona, and Colorado.
All envelopes were mailed late in the afternoon, in a mailbox in our condo building and would have been picked up by our regular mail carrier early that evening.
The first batch of envelopes was mailed on Saturday, January 22. This is the only batch that was mailed over a weekend.
2 of the envelopes were mailed to people living in our condo. 1 of the envelopes was received on January 26, 4 days after it was mailed. The 2nd envelope was received on January 27, 5 days after it was mailed.
1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person living in Newton, Massachusetts. It was received on the 27th – 5 days after it was mailed.
1 of the envelopes was mailed to a couple living in New York City. It was received on the 27th – 5 days after it was mailed.
1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person in Los Angeles; 1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person in Minneapolis; 1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person in St. Louis, Missouri; 1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person in Houston, Texas; all were received 7 days after they were mailed.
In one circumstance the people to whom I was mailing live in two places in the same state. One of the letters was received in Brooklin, Maine on the 27th (5 days after it was mailed) and the other was received in Portland, Maine on the 28th. (6 days after mailing).
1 additional envelope was mailed to Colorado. I had the wrong address, and it was never delivered. It was eventually returned to me 18 days after I sent it.
The second batch of 6 envelopes was mailed on Monday, January 31.
1 of the envelopes was mailed to people living in our condo. That envelope was received on February 3. 3 days after it was mailed.
2 of the envelopes were mailed to people living in California. 1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person living in Los Angeles and 1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person in San Francisco. Both envelopes were received on February 3, 3 days after they were mailed.
1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person in Madison, Wisconsin and 1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person in Miami, Florida. In each of these cases, the envelopes were received on February 6 or 7, 6 or 7 days after they were mailed.
1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person in Ketchum, Idaho. The envelope was received on February 9, 9 days after it was mailed.
The third batch of 2 envelopes was mailed on Monday, February 7.
1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person living in Menlo Park, California. The envelope was received on February 14. 7 days after it was mailed.
1 of the envelopes was mailed to a person living in Scottsdale, Arizona. The envelope was received 4 days after it was mailed.
The final “batch” of 1 envelope was mailed Wednesday, February 9. This is a resending of the envelope on which I had placed the wrong address to a person living in Colorado. The envelope was received 3 days after it was mailed.
The Arizona participant noted separately that on a previous occasion it had taken 11 days for a piece of mail to move between Minneapolis and Scottsdale. One of the D.C. participants reported that a letter had taken 5 days to move from Rockville, Maryland to D.C.
Bottom line…there does not seem to be any obvious consistency for how long it takes for mail to be delivered.