Well Scott, let's see if I get all this for you.  One of our counties is still about 4 months behind, compared to 8 last year.
My clients send recordings to me for the updated title. If they overnight or mail them, no update.  Sometimes our areas are more than 30 days behind indexing.
So I get the recording, go to the courthouse, update the computer then go thru the dailies and put my document in line.

The dailies are all the unrecorded documents that will be recorded in front of me.

I put my docs in line and that's it.  I wait until they are recorded.  Now some places will record right away because they are not busy.  Some by the end of the day, some in 5-7 days and some longer.  Yes mail is not a priority.  BUT when the Clerk is working on the mail, we look at it first while doing our update, and some clerks just put the mail aside while they are busy and get to it when they can. But once recorded, we look at it.

We give our clients a drop off date and a new effective date. They go with it.  If a doc gets rejected, sometimes it goes back in the envelope provided and sometimes they will hold it for me if they know it's mine.  All depends on the county and the person recording.

Did I cover it all?

I used to work in Berks county up there before moving to VA 12 years ago,