Well I took some of you folks collective advice and called about my permit renewal. BTW, this will be the third time I renewed and I never had a delay or hassle before. I left a message and got a voicemail back saying it was approved and an apology for the delay. Fair enough. Not critical to me because I'm sitting 4000 miles away on another continent and have been since May 30.
While it has not been delivered to my house yet, I'm fairly sure it will be upon my return to the good ole USA.
You know, there is a revenue generating possibility here. I saw certain counties in PA that did it. Chester being one of them. Pay an extra $20 or so for the renewals and get expedited service. DE could just as easily do that. Hell, I'd pay that in a heartbeat if it streamlined the process.