Shipments of free coronavirus tests will take at least a week, U.S. officials say.
Last edited Fri Jan 14, 2022, 08:02 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: New York Times
Americans will be able to order free rapid coronavirus tests online at COVIDTests.gov beginning on Wednesday, but the tests will take time to arrive: they will typically ship within 7 to 12 days after being ordered, senior Biden administration officials said on Friday.
The announcement of the website fulfills a promise President Biden made before Christmas, when he said his administration would purchase 500 million rapid at-home coronavirus tests and distribute them to Americans free of charge. On Thursday, Mr. Biden announced his intent to purchase an additional 500 million tests, bringing the total to 1 billion. The administration has already contracted for 420 million tests.
But the lag in shipping means that Americans may not have access to the tests until the end of January at the earliest. In some parts of the country, that may be after the peak of the current surge of coronavirus cases, fueled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.The Postal Service will handle shipping and delivery through first class mail, the officials said.
The officials did not have a specific time when the website would go live; they simply said it would happen sometime next Wednesday. They said that each household would be limited to ordering four tests. Beginning on Saturday, however, people with private insurance are supposed to be able to seek reimbursement for tests they purchase themselves. Some insurers say it will probably take weeks to fully set up the system the White House envisions.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/01/14/world/omicron-covid-vaccine-tests/shipments-of-free-coronavirus-tests-will-take-at-least-a-week-us-officials-say
I HAVE to add this that I just found out in my local paper (Philly Inquirer) -
Postal workers at 43 facilities across the United States, including Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh, will build and label millions of testing kits for mail delivery.
by Ellie Rushing
Updated 2 hours ago
The White House and U.S. Postal Service have finalized plans for a pilot program to deliver 500 million coronavirus testing kits to American households, according to an agreement between the USPS and American Postal Workers Union. Postal workers at 43 facilities across the United States, including Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh, will build and label millions of testing kits for mail delivery, according to the agreement.
President Joe Biden’s administration has built a website, covidtests.org, where, beginning Jan. 19, each American household can request up to four testing kits to be delivered. The site, which launched Friday, says “the tests will be completely free — there are no shipping costs and you don’t need to enter a credit card number.”
Andy Kubat, president of the Lehigh Valley area APWU, who was on a union teleconference call Thursday when plans for the program were presented, said it’s anticipated the USPS could deliver upward of 2 million kits per day. “I heard some offices are reporting there are pallets of kits already there, or at least components of the kits,” Kubat said.
In Philadelphia, the tests will be stored, built, and shipped out of a nearly 120,000-square-foot warehouse in Upper Chichester Township in Delaware County, which the USPS leased in November for five years for package overflow, said Philly APWU Local 89 president Nick Casselli. Casselli said he expects to get more information about the plans and shipments of the kits on Friday. The pilot program will last 75 days from Jan. 12, according to the agreement, which was signed Wednesday by national APWU president Mark Diamondstein and USPS vice president of labor relations Katherine Attridge.
https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/covid-test-kits-usps-philadelphia-20220113.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
I am a retired fed after 30+ years "in the system". 
The postal service employees are apparently going to be "assembling" the boxes of test kits to ship out... Meaning apparently the manufacturers may have shipped components without the retail packaging and these components will be re-packaged into USPS shipping boxes.
I don't know if USPS is actually going to have specialty boxes with unique logos indicating HHS (or some government identifier) or will use their regular shipping boxes/sleeves but it almost hearkens back to these days -
(which makes me wonder if they will have a HHS logo on there somewhere)
Back when that was being given out in the early '80s, one of my godbrothers, who was a trucker, was contracted to deliver shipments of it and showed us what it looked like.
They were 5lb blocks.
that "fell off the truck" and landed elsewhere. 
But see, the current GOP already threw him under the bus many times and even backed up and ran over what was left just as many times. I also know that if he were around today, he would probably have bent over backwards to keep supporting his party's lunacy. Still... Democrats controlled Congress during his two terms too so...
(and I know Japan has gone that route for some things) then someone needs to hire physical bodies from a depleted workforce to actually manufacture the things. Unfortunately there is no Star Trek "replicator" out there to instantly generate test kits.
This is part of the reason why there are shortages as well.
Back last spring, a couple of the biggest ones (Abbott and Becton-Dickinsen) had shut down manufacturing and laid off employees because the latest first wave at the time had pretty much waned, the vaccines were getting out there and there was this collective "aura" about "turning a corner", and this thing would be done by the end of that year. This was before Delta. Fast forward to now, with Delta having rampaged around the world over the summer, and then Omicron through winter, and here we are. These manufacturers had to restart operations. Meanwhile Chinese companies were trying to fill the gap but like any other medical device (which is what these kits are), they had to submit data for EUAs (including the manufacturing processes, validations, etc), and get their data reviewed and approved by FDA before being available for sale. These things aren't like making fast food - ripping open the plastic off some frozen hamburgers, throwing them in a grill, slapping them in buns, adding the toppings, wrapping them in paper, and handing them to a customer.
And then you have what (IMHO) basically amounts to a nasty argument between the "pro-test" scientists and medical community and the "anti-test" ones ("anti-" in terms of them insisting that testing should be limited to specific circumstances and not continual nor for anyone without symptoms, whether they are asymptomatic or uninfected - mainly because you can get a negative test at 8 am and then test again at 4 pm and come up positive).
So this leaves the public health officials in a bind trying to navigate between the 2 camps - each side loudly proclaiming their positions - amplified by the media who has to get eyeballs and will "play both sides against the middle".
there will be "phone orders". 
by Nick Vadala
Published Jan 14, 2022
Americans will be able to begin ordering rapid COVID-19 tests to their homes free of charge starting Jan. 19 from the federal government. Starting Wednesday, you can order a test from COVIDTests.gov, which the federal government will send out at no cost — including no shipping fees. A half billion tests will be available for order at first, with an additional 500 million on order.
To distribute the tests, the Biden administration will partner with the United States Postal Service. Postal workers at 43 facilities around the country — including in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh — will build and label millions of the testing kits for mail delivery.
(snip)
Where can I request free tests?
Starting Jan. 19, you can go to COVIDTests.gov and request free tests. The website is currently active, but is not yet accepting orders. It is not yet clear what information you will need to provide in order to receive the tests, but you won’t need to provide any credit card information.
If you don’t have internet access, or for those who need additional support to get tests, there will be a free call line accepting phone-in orders. The number for the call line was not included in the White House’s statement on the program’s launch.
https://www.inquirer.com/philly-tips/free-covid-tests-mail.html
