I just went through this process, it was the exact same experience as dvdbuddy. They held my passport 4 business days. They assigned me a date to come pick up my passport. At the DC office, they allow passport pickups from 2-4pm on the date of your assigned pick up. While I was available to pick mine up on that day, I did ask them if it mattered if I came later than that assigned day. They said it was not a problem. The assigned day was the earliest I was allowed to retrieve my passport.