George,

>Well, get this one. If I want to send my wife a Valentines day card and take it to the local Cartersville Post Office, it has to go to Atlanta then be sent back to Cartersville for delivery.

I take it that you used that excuse last Valentine's Day?

>Makes sense. The question is to whom?

Borrowing a quote from former Alabama governor George C. Wallace, "those pointy-headed pseudo-intellectual bureaucrats in Washington". (My apologies to all public servants here... but I just love that quote).

I guess the postal service mostly aims to improve the "average" delivery time.