so my experience went like this. applied 8/18 on 8/24 took the postal exam 473 and scored 82. on 8/28 got invited to interview. on 9/2 had interview at 1pm and my application status went from "application entry" to "pre-hire list". on 9/2 at 7:30pm got email for background check (current and previous addresses, SSN, names, drivers license info) so did that online and also faxed and mailed in the consent form the next day on 9/3. a week after my interview (today 9/9) i got email to do drug test, so scheduled drug test and also received another email for background check, this background check was exactly the same as the last one except didnt ask for drivers license info. after scheduling drug test and submitting background check info, i checked my application status and it has gone from "pre-hire list" to just blank under the "process step" the "short text" still says "in process". shortly after it showed pre-hire list again. took drug test the next day on 9/10. on friday 9/11 my application status went from "pre-hire list" to "offer phase (EXT)" and it stayed like that until 9/18 then went back to "pre-hire list". i was concerned so over the weekend i emailed the person who emailed me the information for my interview. she emailed me back on monday 9/21 and said that it still shows i need to schedule the drug test even though i did that and took it already over a week ago. she said she would look into it and contact the medical department and get it straightened out. the next day on 9/21 i got my two emails about the conditional job offer and accepted