Fred, I used to have a similar problem with iris orders coming from an iris garden not even 200 miles away. I always specified Priority Mail, and it would always take at least 4-5 days to receive them. So I changed to UPS Ground, and suddenly it was 2-3 days and has been so ever since.
And I know Dot will remember the problem this last summer with the first shipment of seeds she sent me. They never arrived, so she had to scramble around to replace them -- and then right after I received the replacement batch I suddenly got a notice that the Post Office would only hold my package for another day or two (can't remember how long) and then would return it to the sender-- and that was the first notice had I received! So we let it happen, and hopefully she got her seeds back. Did you ever get them back, Dot? I admit I was rather steamed about that. I have a mailbox slot that actually drops everything into a box inside the house, so if he had filled out one of those notices it should have been there.
And I guess there are occasional problems with both delivery systems. Just a few weeks ago I received a call from a woman who lived around the block ON ANOTHER STREET, and UPS had dropped off my order of 3-1/2" pots at her place.
