I could mail my next door neighbor a letter and it would go to Fort Worth (30 miles west of me) before it came back to be delivered to her mailbox. That's because all our mail is sorted in Fort Worth; it's apparently the main sorting/distribution center for our region. Most government agencies don't operate efficiently (in my opinion, of course), whether city, county, state, or federal. I worked for a state government and saw it up close and personal.