I was talking with an American friend of mine this past week (an occasional Flyertalk contributor), who has lived outside North America for the last 40 years. They currently live near Essen Germany. His wife's passport is expiring and he sent it to the American Consulate in Frankfurt for renewal. While these datapoints are unlikely to help more than a small group of people who are working on renewals, thought it might be of interest to some readers. Received this email overnight:

"The DHL Deutsche Post mailman just delivered D*****'s new passport. I had mailed off the application on 26 April and we got it on 12 May. A total of 16 days, including transit both directions and processing time at the U.S. Consulate General in Frankfurt.

I noticed that the date of issuance is 30 April, so I surmise that they waited a week for the Cashier's Check to clear before they sent it out last Friday."