Holidays... and instantaneous email, delayed by a day

Last minute deals are great aren't they? I got a lovely holiday booked to Majorca for the equivalent of £380. I have to fly from Stuttgart, but InterCityExpress train travel to and from the airport was included in the price.

Things have been working well today, but I have learned how inefficient the email system used by our web application is. We have a dedicated server with an external company, which sends automated emails to an external mail provider of that company, which sends email via several relay servers until it reaches its destination. Oh, and this can take up to a day in the worst circumstances.

I guess external mail providers must think one day ahead...