I've learned from a very friendly agent at the NPIC how the process works which just adds to the ridiculousness and incompetence of the state department. The so called PO boxes where you mail your first time passport and passport renewal applications are nothing more than mailing facilities operating exclusively for the state department and are not open to the public. They have weeks if not months worth of applications there waiting to be opened and scanned into the system. Once your application is scanned into the system it is sent to a passport agency to be processed such as Charleston South Carolina, Minneapolis, New Hampshire etc etc. The actual processing since you are talking about an electronic image and file can be done in a matter of minutes, that is the reason why those who get their senators involved get their passports in a matter of 12 to 24 hours in some cases. So as you can see, if it weren't for the incompetence of the state department things realistically should not take more than 2 to 3 weeks but in reality 10 to 12 weeks is the norm, the system definitely needs a change