I mailed renewal application at Post Office March 14. I sent priority mail & paid to have it returned to me priority express. They showed it in their system March 20 for regular processing. I signed up for email updates and they started coming about a week ago. It arrived in my mailbox today, so not too bad processing time when I did not pay for expedited processing. The new ones do look a little different. The main information & photo is plastic. The image is shown twice. Once is what they call microtext and is very faint with what they say says "United States of America" printed over the image. The actual photo is also very faint. I have white hair and it hardly shows. I am glad I wore a black turtleneck and some makeup or I would really look ghost like.
Thanks for your report. I thought passports were taking longer, so it’s good to know. I’m sure it helped that it was a renewal.
Im waiting on my kids' which was received for processing on March 22. Website still says 'Processing". We leave in 4 weeks.
lamb616 have you started looking in to Passport offices near where you live so you can make an emergency appointment?
I received my renewed passport on 6/6 - 11 weeks after mailing to the State Department.
I got mine May 22. I applied April 4 and paid for expedited service ($60 extra) but not the fastest mail delivery.