New Delhi, Sept. 6 -- My friend Milena was going postal.

She had painstakingly gathered 20 cards and notes from her mother's old friends for her birthday-her first grade best friend from 1946, her fencing club partner from 1959, her friend who went on a study trip with her to Tunisia in 1965 all the way up to her current physiotherapist and dental hygienists.

She mailed the package from Berlin to her mother's home in upstate New York as a birthday surprise.

Milena got a birthday shock instead. Every day she checked in on the parcel, trying to track its progress. By the time the package finally reached, the birthday was over. It had taken 21 days and given Milena a migraine.

"From now onwards, I will use personal couriers only," she to...