Back in the Golden Age of Radio, there was an unrehearsed quiz program called “Can You Top This?” where comedians would tell jokes to see who could top the others in audience reaction.

A variation of this is springing up in the frustrated anecdotes we U.S. Postal Service customers are telling each other about the pace of mail delivery service these days. No wonder it’s called “snail mail.”

One friend might say, “It took three weeks for my letter to get from Lansford to Harrisburg.” Another might chime in, “Heck, that’s quick compared to my letter which took five weeks to go from Tamaqua to Sunbury.”

I have had my own maddening experiences and challenges, most recently when I received a credit card bill in the mail on Jan. 20 that was due on Jan. 16. Fortunately, I had realized that the bill had not arrived at its usual time, so I tracked it down online and saved myself the interest for a late payment. I am told, however, that most companies will waive the late fee if you call to plead your case, but getting through to any human at any company these days takes the patience of Job, and, quite frankly, I think even he would be put out by the wait times.

Some area residents whom I contacted said the situation seems to be getting gradually better now that the holidays and the election are over.

To try to gather some specifics, some friends, family members and I made first-class mailings to various areas of the country, and asked for a return response.

Here were some of my findings:

• From Kresgeville to Norfolk, Virginia: sent Dec. 7, arrived Jan. 21.

• From Slatington to Tucson, Arizona: Dec. 14-Jan. 8.

• From Palmerton to Tamaqua: Jan. 4-Jan. 11.

• From Lansford to Weatherly: Jan. 4-Jan. 12.

• From Seattle, Washington, to Schnecksville, Lehigh County: Dec. 15-Jan. 13.

• From Bismarck, North Dakota, to Summit Hill: Dec. 16-Jan. 12.

Then there is the issue with newspapers sent to mail subscribers. This is creating a financial issue for many small newspaper publishers.

I get the Times News delivered to my home. The delivery has been beyond erratic. I received the Dec. 2 and 4 editions on Jan. 15, but then I received the Jan. 14 edition the next day.

While every subscriber is important, the Times News is not as reliant on mail subscribers as many small newspapers across the country.

The publisher of a weekly paper in northern Nebraska said the local post office would not even take the four papers his company prints weekly.

Hundreds of small publishers find themselves in the same boat, which means that they are losing thousands of dollars in advertising and circulation revenue. In largely rural communities, subscribers who totally rely on mail delivery of their papers are being deprived of important news stories and advertising incentives. Some news operations have even called on reporters and editors to deliver papers.

Newspapers have relied on the Postal Service since its beginnings nearly 2½ centuries ago. Pennsylvanian Ben Franklin, the nation’s first postmaster general, was a newspaper publisher and started several periodicals in the Philadelphia area. Publishers pay 22 to 36 cents for each copy the Postal Service delivers, based on whether it stays in state, but the Postal Service is talking about raising prices because of its ongoing staggering losses of more than $9 billion in 2020.

Quite a paradox, don’t you agree? The more unreliable the service, the higher the cost. No wonder the Postal Service is hemorrhaging cash.

The Postal Service was under considerable pressure leading up to the Nov. 3 election since there was so much reliance on mail-in ballots because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Actually, the Postal Service performed well in getting the ballots to their destinations on time. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for other mail. For the Postal Service, it was the proverbial perfect storm, a point acknowledged by Kim Frum, a spokesperson for the agency.

“Under some of the most difficult circumstances we’ve faced in the past century, the U.S. Postal Service successfully processed and delivered both a record number of mail-in ballots and a record number of holiday packages for the American people, amid a global pandemic,” Frum said.

The Postal Service delivered more than 135 million ballots and more than 1.1 billion holiday packages.

If mail performance doesn’t improve significantly, expect long-term consequences for the Postal Service’s reputation for reliability.

As for the reference to a return to the Pony Express, forget that. It was a bust. The mail service that relied on relays of horse-mounted riders delivering messages, newspapers and mail lasted only about 18 months in 1860 and 1861 before going bankrupt.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com