Greg, here's a quick recounting of two packages lost by the USPS.
Last year, I followed the tracking and saw my package of auto parts as "out for delivery" from my local Post Office, but not delivered by my mailman for two days. Then it went to another state, and I foolishly waited patiently, and watched as it mysteriously moved around the country. It was last tracked at a dead-letter facility in Georgia. By the time I contacted the USPS to find out what was going on, it was lost in their system. The package was not insured, and I lost my purchase without any reimbursement from the seller or the USPS.
Same thing happened a couple months ago, but after the second day of "out for delivery" from my local Post Office, but not delivered, I saw the Mailman and asked him if he knew what was going on. He said that he had worked this route the last couple days, and if it had really been "out for delivery" he would have had it on his truck and delivered it. He suggested that I call the local Postmaster and ask her about it. He gave me her phone number, and I called right away. She immediately checked and said it also was misdirected to another state, but tracking didn't show that most recent move. She said she would contact that facility to pull my package and get it back to my local Post Office. She kept me in the loop via email, and it was delivered to me two days later.
Lesson learned: Your local Postmaster has better tracking abilities than we have when using the USPS Tracking system, and they can intervene and redirect lost or misdirected mail. All we can do alone is watch and wait, and hope for the best. You were smart to be concerned, and fortunate to not have to waste time and money searching for a replacement AyA forend.
