Exact Answer: 2 to 3 days
A letter is one of the most common means of communication for centuries. It has been in use much before the advent of means of communication like telegrams and telephones. However, it has been under threat for the past few decades due to the arrival of means like e-mail and SMS but its relevancy still holds good in cases of official communication.
In the United States of America, the duty of collecting letters and delivering them to the receivers is managed by USPS. The United States Postal Service is the company at the forefront of this job and it delivers the letters at a great speed using fast modes of transport. Long gone are the decades when the letters took months to get delivered on horses.
How Long Does A Letter Take?
| Type of Mail/Letter | Time |
| Standard Mail | 4 to 5 days |
| Priority Mail | 2 to 3 days |
| Priority Express Mail | 1 to 2 days |
| First Class Mail | 24 Hours |
The time that is taken by a letter to be delivered depends upon the type of delivery speed chosen. There are 4 major types of delivery mails. These are the Standard mail, the Priority mail, the Priority Express mail, and the First Class mail.
Standard mail is the cheapest kind of delivery service available for sending letters. A letter sent by standard mail might reach its destination only after 4 to 5 days.
Priority mail comes at more cost than standard mail. As its name would suggest, it delivers mail as if they are a priority and thus, speeds up the process. Priority mail takes 2 to 3 days to send and receive letters.
Priority Express mail is another superfast delivery method of sending and receiving letters. It is more costly than the other two and the letter gets delivered within 1 to 2 days.
The First Class Mail is the quickest means of sending letters and the letters can be delivered within nearly 24 hours. However, these services are also the most expensive ones.
The time of the day when these letters will be delivered to the receiver varies according to the delivery mode. The general rule goes as the most paid letter is delivered in the early hours of the day and the inexpensive mails are delivered in the late hours.
Why Does A Letter Take So Long?
The delivery time of a letter is affected by a few factors. These include the distance between the two locations and the chosen type of delivery of letters. The duration of delivery is influenced by a combination of these factors.
The distance between the two locations holds immense significance in the delivery time of the goods. It is a common understanding that more distance between two cities implies greater time is needed to send and receive letters. Similarly, the smaller distance between the sender’s address and the receiver’s address signifies the lesser time being taken to send and receive letters.
The distance between two locations can be calculated by taking into regard the sender’s zip code and the receiver’s zip code. While sending a letter, the sender would be asked to fill in certain details like date and time, a destination address, and the zip codes of both the sender and the receiver.
The type of mail delivery system being put to use is another significant factor in this regard. While Standard mail and Priority mail take more than 2 days to send the letter to its destination, other delivery systems like Priority Express mail and First Class Mail take less than 2 days for the same cause.
Conclusion
Letters are a crucial means of communication even today in the age of the internet. They are mostly used for governmental and official needs. The delivery time taken by the letter to reach a destination depends primarily on the distance between both locations.
There are 4 major mail delivery systems in use. The Standard mail takes 4 to 5 days to reach and the Priority mail takes 2 to 3 days to reach its destination. On the other hand, the Priority Express mail takes 1 to 2 days and the First Class mail is delivered within 24 hours of posting.
References
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/2929623
- https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=8mJyCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=info:YqgDT4ZADTMJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=5_Ro7RsRsl&sig=BbLlakRC5ax3JX_QSjAMThKuPv8&redir_esc=y
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