Originally Posted by GUWonder

The trained USPS postal clerks authorized to handle/accept in-person applications had a history of errors too at a rate that was different than that of State’s own employees — that too with a net outcome worse than for those who do passport agency office or embassy/consulate in-person applications for in-person pick -up or mail-out delivery of the passports issued against DS-11s. I indicated about this dynamic a few years ago on FT, and it informed my preference and drove my suggestion to use the US passport agency offices or US missions abroad to get the State Department’s own employees to handle way more of the process between an applicant’s beginning the application to getting a new passport in hand — as much as possible while being reasonably convenient to the applicant.

The more messed up or complicated a passport applicant’s passport situation is, the more likely I would try to go in person to a US passport agency office to get it handled faster and with quicker feedback from the employees of the authority issuing the passport: the State Department.

USPS employees trained to work passport acceptance make mistakes too. And when they make a mistake, by the time the applicant has feedback on what the issue is and gets a chance to resolve it, more time will have passed than if having applied without going through an outside application acceptance facility like the USPS.