Geno 2 kit mailed just before deadline, not received yet

[KATM]

I had purchased a Geno 2.0 kit about three years ago, and it was kept at room temperature during that time. This kit was bought when FTDNA was still doing Geno 2.0 kit processing, and had an envelope to return to FTDNA's Houston address. I believe that FTDNA was still accepting such kits for processing, up until the Geno 2.0 project end of 31 Dec 2019.

Leaving aside questions for now about whether the preservation fluid was still good, or the sample was taken correctly, I am wondering how long it would take to arrive at Family Tree DNA. The person who finally agreed to do the scraping (under pressure of the deadline of 31 Dec 2019), took it to the U.S. Post Office after using the kit, and got it postmarked there on 30 Dec 2019. USPS tracking shows the package was delivered to Houston on 2 Jan 2020 at 7:57 p.m.

I've been put in charge of checking the results, but so far (11 days after reaching Houston) it has not been received, according to the "Kit Status" message at the Geographic project site.

Is this likely to be a case of the Houston P.O. being slow, as in the past with other FTDNA kits? Is it simply waiting in a mailbag at the Houston P.O., to be delivered when they are good and ready?

[Biblioteque]

I have two recently purchased kits I may keep for a while before using. KATM, you mention "room temperature." Does anyone know if that is good storage, or do some use the refrigerator?

[KATM]

I also have one unused Family Finder kit that has been kept at room temperature (between about 68 to 72 degrees Farenheit, +/- a degree or two) for two years now. My! How time flies. I would suspect the preservation fluid to be good at that temperature range for at least one year, probably because I've read that somewhere. I'm not sure if refrigeration would extend that lifespan. It seems like that would make sense, unless the fluid isn't meant to be refrigerated. OTOH, certainly keeping any unused (or used, horrors!) test kit in a hot car, for example, would be detrimental to it.

This Geno 2.0 kit was expected to be used shortly after receiving it. That did not happen, so it lay forgotten for a long time. Judicious nagging finally got the person to use it, along with the pressure of the deadline for the Genographic project. Prior to using that kit, the longest I had an FTDNA kit before it was used was six to nine months, all kept at room temperature.

[KATM]

An update: today the message changed to

Sample Processing


Success! Our lab has isolated your DNA! The next step in the process is analysis of your DNA to uncode your ancestral journey. As a reminder, it takes eight to ten weeks to process your DNA from the time we receive your sample.

Now the wait begins. I suppose the results should come before the end of March.