We like Consumerist reader Justin’s optimistic attitude. He sent a package to a destination two miles away, via the ever unpredictable US Postal Service, and seems pretty amused by the fact that it went across the country first.

He writes:

Hey Consumerist!

This isn’t the first time that USPS has done this to someone’s package, and probably won’t be the last, but it’s always an interesting story to tell.

Basically, I sold a textbook online and the buyer was actually in the same city (Davis, California) as me. I shipped my book at the university post office, which was less than two miles from the destination. If anyone’s wondering why I just didn’t personally deliver the book, sites like Amazon and eBay basically need proof of delivery. The estimated delivery time was about a day, which was expected. Instead of delivering the book the next day, USPS decided to ship the book all the way to Bell Gardens, CA, then to Springfield, MA, then West Sacramento, CA, and finally back to Davis, where it was delivered a week after it was shipped. Funny thing is, the worker even confirmed with me that the package was shipping to Davis.

In total USPS shipped a book across the country over 6,285 miles when the destination was less than 2 miles. I’m not mad or anything close to that. After all, my package actually arrived at the intended destination, and within 7 days! That’s like super fast for USPS (hehe, couldn’t help myself 😛 ) It was likely a mistake, and thankfully it got corrected. People make mistakes, but somehow I would imagine that USPS would save a lot of money if they weren’t always shipping packages an extra 6,283 miles. But in the end my package still loves USPS for the fabulous cross-country road trip.

As long as the package reached its destination intact, all’s well that ends well, right? Love the optimism, Justin.

Check out his online tracking confirmation:

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.