History Main / SnailMail

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainFlamingo'': In the opening of "Blindsided", Milo orders a pair of night-vision goggles from the back of a comic book, but didn't receive it for a long while due to being delivered by [[VisualPun an actual snail]]. He eventually receives it, only to find out that he ordered an extra extra small pair instead of extra small, causing some difficulty to put the goggles on.

* PlayedForLaughs in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Route of All Evil", where Cubert and Dwight complain about a package they ordered taking just over 7 seconds to arrive. ([[DontExplainTheJoke The advertised shipping time was 5 seconds]].)
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' episode, "Your Baloo's In the Mail", Rebecca wins the Pazuza sweepstakes worth $100,000, and plans to use the $17.50 S.S.T.I.S.D.D.[[note]]Super Speed Triple Insured Same Day Delivery[[/note]] postage to get the ticket mailed in time for the sweepstakes' next-day deadline. However, her daughter Molly's school play prevents her from being able to mail the ticket herself. When Rebecca worries that [[BrilliantButLazy Baloo]] might mess up this important delivery, [[DidntThinkThisThrough Molly suggests just telling Baloo that it's a normal 'non-important' job]]. [[GeniusDitz Baloo]] takes this seriously and spends most of the $20.00 Rebecca gives him on fast food, leaving him with only two cents. As a result, he is only able to afford the post office's 18th class service, which hasn't been used in 40 years, and takes ten weeks to deliver. When Baloo realizes his mistake, it's up to him to speed the mail delivery along so that the winning ticket can get delivered to Pazuza in time.

** Inverted in "Chatterbox Gary." [=SpongeBob=] orders a translation collar so he can understand what his pet is saying, and orders the fastest possible delivery option, "time warp." He is told that his package was delivered "last Thursday."

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the episode "Brush With Greatness", it is revealed that Marge sent Music/RingoStarr fan mail back in the [[TheSixties 1960s]]. Ringo didn't receive said mail until 1991.

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[[AC:Western Animation]]

[[AC:Real Life]]

In RealLife, public mail services can be slow. Postal services claim that some delays are caused by customers not filling in addresses properly or not following postal guidelines for packages (leading workers to use the StampOfRejection and return it to you), while others are due to weather and natural disasters. Postal services also face delays because, like any huge government bureaucracy, they face staffing shortages, as complex hiring systems, strikes and big pension obligations make it hard to hire enough staff. As well, mail delivery can be slowed--at least in the short term-- by the challenge of integrating new technologies and processes (e.g. automated sorting, digital tracking). On the other hand, this can sometimes be an InvertedTrope, because depending on certain circumstances and where the mail is being sent, the postal service can actually sometimes be ''faster'' than a specialized delivery service.

* An [[{{CableSatelliteMudslinging}} Xfinity ad]] featuring the [[{{PunnyName}} Slowskies]] ([[{{DontExplainTheJoke}} a family of turtles]]) has Mr. and Mrs. Slowsky receiving an invitation to a Y2K party via the postal service... in 2019. The mail man in question is [[{{VisualPun}} an actual snail]], naturally enough.

* At the end of ''Film/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', the Baudelaire orphans ''finally'' [[{{ItMakesSenseInContext}} receive a letter from their dead parents]] roughly two ''years'' after it was originally mailed. For context, the late Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire came home from a trip less than a month after the letter was declared lost in the mail.

-->'''Doc Brown:''' Right on the tick! If only the Post Office was as reliable as [[{{ItMakesSenseInContext}} the Weather Service]].

* The postal system in Oceania is depicted by ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' to be cumberstonely slow, with a letter often taking several months to arrive, if it manages it.

* In David Brin's ''Literature/ThePostman'', a well-educated drifter in post-apocalyptic America finds a dead postal carrier in a car wreck. He puts on the uniform and tells people he is a mailman from the US Postal Service. At first, he delivers letters to the communities on the wastelands alone. It is a slow process, because he's on foot and the land is crawling with survivalists and robbers. Eventually he gets helpers and by the end, he leads a whole team of mail carriers, all of which helps to re-establish the fabric of society and order.

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* In an episode of Creator/DisneyChannel's ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992'', Sebastian's parents send him a letter via the [[{{VisualPun}} Snail Man]], telling him they'd see him in six months. Said letter takes six months to arrive, with Sebastian seeing his parents the moment he finishes reading it.

* PlayedForLaughs in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Route of All Evil", where Cubert and Dwight complain about a package they ordered taking just over 7 seconds to arrive. ([[{{DontExplainTheJoke}} The advertised shipping time was 5 seconds]].)
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' episode, "Your Baloo's In the Mail", Rebecca wins the Pazuza sweepstakes worth $100,000, and plans to use the $17.50 S.S.T.I.S.D.D.[[note]]Super Speed Triple Insured Same Day Delivery[[/note]] postage to get the ticket mailed in time for the sweepstakes' next-day deadline. However, her daughter Molly's school play prevents her from being able to mail the ticket herself. When Rebecca worries that [[{{BrilliantButLazy}} Baloo]] might mess up this important delivery, [[{{DidntThinkThisThrough}} Molly suggests to just tell Baloo that it's a normal 'non-important' job]]. [[{{GeniusDitz}} Baloo]] takes this seriously and spends most of the $20.00 Rebecca gives him on fast food, leaving him with only two cents. As a result, he is only able to afford the post office's 18th class service, which hasn't been used in 40 years, and takes ten weeks to deliver. When Baloo realizes his mistake, it's up to him to speed the mail delivery along so that the winning ticket can get delivered to Pazuza in time.

** Ironically, the actual episode with the title "Snail Mail" doesn't revolve around the postal service. Instead, it deals with the fallout from Gary accidently getting slime on a letter that [=SpongeBob=] sent to a pen pal, changing the word "frying" to "flying". HilarityEnsues as [=SpongeBob=] doesn't correct the misunderstanding before it gets out of hand. [[spoiler:Said pen pal turns out to be Patrick]]. Each time [=SpongeBob=] sends a new letter, the response still takes 4 to 6 days to arrive, though.
* ''WesternAnimation/WabbitALooneyTunesProduction'': In one episode, [[{{ItMakesSenseInContext}} Bugs orders a kite]]. After waiting a while, the order arrives late in the mail, the one delivering the package being [[{{VisualPun}} a snail]].

* Played Straight to almost the point of parody by the Russian Post Service, whose tardiness and obstructiveness has become the stuff of legends. Or at least of countless jokes and jabs, such as when a girl employs as a sorter at their facility just so that she could locate a package she's waiting for, or that the meteorite that crashed in Chelyabinsk in February 2013 was meant to bring about End of The World prophesised by the Mayan calendar in the end of 2012, but RPS was tasked with delivering it.

* In Greece, it's now typical for the phone bills to arrive 15 days after the SMS that informs you of said bill. This creates a huge problem for some elderly people who are unused - or refuse - to read messages, thus making them miss the deadlines more often than not.

** Ironically, the actual episode with the title "Snail Mail" doesn't revolve around the postal service. Instead, it deals with the fallout from Gary accidently getting slime on a letter that SpongeBob sent to a pen pal, changing the word "frying" to "flying". HilarityEnsues as SpongeBob doesn't correct the misunderstanding before it gets out of hand. [[spoiler:Said pen pal turns out to be Patrick]]. Each time SpongeBob sends a new letter, the response still takes 4 to 6 days to arrive, though.

* On ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'', Jeremiah Tortoise is an elderly tortoise who delivers the mail in Woodman Valley. It's not unusual for stuff to take ages to arrive, and woe be those who get a wrong package because of his ForgetfulJones tendencies, forcing a redelivery.

In RealLife, public mail services can be slow. Postal services claim that some delays are caused by customers not filling in addresses properly or not following postal guidelines for packages (leading workers to use the StampOfRejection and return it to you) and due to weather and natural disasters. Postal services also face delays because, like any huge government bureaucracy, they face staffing shortages, as complex hiring systems, strikes and big pension obligations make it hard to hire enough staff. As well, mail delivery can be slowed--at least in the short term-- by the challenge of integrating new technologies and processes (e.g. automated sorting, digital tracking). On the other hand, this can sometimes be an InvertedTrope, because depending on certain circumstances and where the mail is being sent, the postal service can actually sometimes be ''faster'' than a specialized delivery service.

In RealLife, public mail services can be slow. Postal services claim that some delays are caused by customers not filling in addresses properly or not following postal guidelines for packages (leading workers to use the StampOfRejection and return it to you) and due to weather and natural disasters. Postal services also face delays because, like any huge government bureaucracy, they face staffing shortages, as complex hiring systems, strikes and big pension obligations make it hard to hire enough staff. As well, mail delivery can be slowed--at least in the short term-- by the challenge of integrating new technologies and processes (e.g. automated sorting, digital tracking).

* In David Brin's ''The Postman'', a well-educated drifter in post-apocalyptic America finds a dead postal carrier in a car wreck. He puts on the uniform and tells people he is a mailman from the US Postal Service. At first, he delivers letters to the communities on the wastelands alone. It is a slow process, because he's on foot and the land is crawling with survivalists and robbers. Eventually he gets helpers and by the end, he leads a whole team of mail carriers, all of which helps to re-establish the fabric of society and order.

In RealLife, public mail services can be slow. Postal services claim that some delays are caused by customers not filling in addresses properly or not following postal guidelines for packages (leading workers to use the StampOf Rejection and return it to you) and due to weather and natural disasters. Postal services also face delays because, like any huge government bureaucracy, they face staffing shortages, as complex hiring systems, strikes and big pension obligations make it hard to hire enough staff. As well, mail delivery can be slowed--at least in the short term-- by the challenge of integrating new technologies and processes (e.g. automated sorting, digital tracking).

* On ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'', Jeremiah Tortoise is an elderly tortoise who delivers the mail in Woodman Valley. You can see how this can go wrong. It's not unusual for stuff to take ages to arrive, and woe be those who get a wrong package because of his ForgetfulJones tendencies, forcing a redelivery.

* On ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'', Jeremiah Tortoise is an elderly tortoise who delivers the mail in Woodman Valley. You can see how this can go wrong. It's not unusual for stuff to take ages to arrive, and whoa be those who get a wrong package because of his ForgetfulJones tendencies, forcing a redelivery.

In RealLife, public mail services can be slow. Postal services claim that some delays are caused by customers not filling in addresses properly or not following postal guidelines for packages and due to weather and natural disasters. Postal services also face delays because, like any huge government bureaucracy, they face staffing shortages, as complex hiring systems, strikes and big pension obligations make it hard to hire enough staff. As well, mail delivery can be slowed--at least in the short term-- by the challenge of integrating new technologies and processes (e.g. automated sorting, digital tracking).

In RealLife, public mail services can be slow. Postal services claim that some delays are caused by customers not filling in addresses properly or not following postal guidelines for packages and due to weather and natural disasters. Postal services also face delays because, like any huge government bureaucracy, they face staffing shortages, as complex hiring systems, strikes and big pension obligations make it hard to hire enough staff. As well, mail delivery can be slowed--at least in the short term-- by the introduction of new technologies and processes (automated sorting).