The "code" is the standard employee caveat of USPS Registered Mail - whenever the item changes hands, EVERY person is required to sign for it as having been received in good order. Damage, eccentricities of packaging, and obvious signs of "forced entry" into the parcel are duly noted and called to the attention of postal inspectors. Barring any significant complications up to the points of transfer, the parcel is handed off to the next point of contact. Signing off puts the postal employee liable for criminal prosecution in the event they are lying or trying to conceal damage. The chain of custody is often delayed by days off, sick days, holiday shutdowns, and excessive volume of registered parcels. When a vendor tells you he or she has shipped by Registered Mail, expect a wait anywhere from 3 to 14 days, depending on the geographic locations of shippers and receivers. Erroneous deliveries from the next door neighbors to the transmission shop in town do occur occasionally; these are usually due to mail carriers fixated on their hand-held devices or are a result of the "she's gonna want me back" syndrome. The inherent problems are not in the structure of the system, but in the expediters. Be patient and don't hesitate to protest any irregularities in the process (e.g., severely damaged packaging, rewritten or relabeled delivery or return addresses. strange additional stickers from foreign countries, foreign postage, etc.). Any and all of these are subject to federal statutes and related tenets of prosecution under USPS regulationsl
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