I dont know all there is to know,(about anything) but, as I understand it, the numbers do nail it down to a specific place. For instance, here the O is the region, (New England) the 4 is the state (Maine) then I must slip to the last number, 6, which is South Portland Maine. The extra numbers such as, 04074-0313 is my old address. The first five are for Scarborough Maine, and, the 0313 is the Post Office box. That's all I know.

The delay you were told about is not that bad, although, if some postal employee has a bad day he/she might tend to ignore that letter. Go into the mudcat resources and check out addresses. Many of us are listed there.