Thirteen days after their initial dispatch, I received the letters sent to South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and Ascension Island back on 10 September 2019.
I was expecting the letter to South Georgia to return since the USPS does not have this territory on its list of countries to which it dispatches mail. The letter to Ascension return is odd. However, I did address a second letter with the country “South Atlantic Ocean” as suggested by postal authorities. I’ll write to the Ascension Government to see what they say. For South Georgia, I addressed a second letter to “South Atlantic Ocean” via the Falklands per a suggestion by the British Antarctic Survey. I’ll write the South Georgia Government, too – although pretty much all their answers to any question is no.
Looking at the cancellation mark and yellow tape, I am guessing all my mail was processed my local post office on 28 August, forwarded to the regional processing center on or about 29 August, and there were processed on 6 September.
Let’s hope there are no more returns – although I haven’t gotten my British Antarctic Territory nor British Indian Ocean Territory letters back – these are not on the list.
The yellow tape has an obscure code on it, beginning with NIXIE. The label itself was created by the automated Postal Automated Redirection System (PARS); the term is an artifact of an old post office term for mail that is undeliverable as addressed. It comes from German “nix” or “not.” In the past, the USPS had “Nixie clerks” who would research where misaddressed mail ought to go – in the case of South George, the answer is obvious, back to the sender.