Residents frustrated by mail delays

Delayed checks, wayward bills and late store circulars vexed Central Virginia’s U.S. Postal Service patrons through the holidays, the result of unexpected volumes of mail and snowfalls that slowed processing and delayed delivery, postal officials say.

Patrons across the region report late bills, delayed checks, advertisements that arrived after sales ended and missed financial opportunities.

Several noted that Belk department store advertisements in particular seemed to arrive after their sale dates near Christmas and New Year’s Day had passed. Even some mail carriers reported that delays in receiving mail in local post offices slowed deliveries on their routes.

“I’m waiting on a magazine that’s a November-December issue and I haven’t gotten it yet, even though others who get the magazine are getting their January-February issues,” said Fred Dyke, of Montford in Orange County. “I had an insurance bill that was due on Dec. 16 and I still haven’t received it. I thought I’d just mail the payment anyway and then I thought, what if my check winds up sitting on top of a pile of mail somewhere and never gets there?”

Cathy Boule, postal service spokeswoman, said an unexpectedly heavy load of holiday mail slowed the process.

“We did experience heavier than projected mail volumes during this holiday mailing season.” Boule said. “As an example, the busiest mailing day of the year was Dec. 20. The Richmond mail processing center processed almost 12 million pieces of mail on that day. This was almost 2 million more than projected.”

The postal service divides mail into several classes with standard mail, such as advertising circulars, newsletters and small packages, taking less precedence over first class, Priority and Express Mail, postal service officials say.

Boule said the mail burden forced the postal service to focus on processing Express Mail, Priority Mail and first-class mail before bulk and standard mail, such as the Belk advertisements.

The February cost-cutting closure of a mail-processing center in Earlysville, and the subsequent trucking of area mail to a larger facility in Sandston, near Richmond, was not the direct cause of delays, although snowfall in the region did affect deliveries, Boule said.

“First class service is measured daily and reported quarterly by an independent company and currently the Richmond district meets standards, on average, about 95 [percent] to 96 percent of the time,” she said. “The number of delayed pieces could be in direct proportion to the increased volume during this period.”

Dyke said he didn’t notice delayed mail until after Thanksgiving.

“I don’t know [that] I really had a problem before then,” he said.

Boule said decreasing mail volume nationwide, a surfeit of infrastructure and personnel and mounting financial losses sparked the Earlysville distribution center’s closure. The postal service, which is self-supporting and receives no direct federal tax dollars, lost an estimated $8.5 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

“We are doing everything possible to reduce costs and save money, and consolidating postal operations makes logical business sense given the economic realities,” she said. “It would be fiscally irresponsible of us not to do so.”

Dyke said he wrestled with a similar problem when deciding what to do about the payment for the bill he never received.

“I asked a [postal clerk] if there was any way I could assure the payment got there, considering the bill never arrived, and it was suggested that I get a return signature or send it certified mail,” Dyke said. “That would cost more and I thought, no way am I going to pay more for bad service.”

Boule said the postal service regrets patrons’ problems.

“We truly apologize for the inconvenience our customers have experienced during this time,” she said. “I’ve shared these concerns with local management and they are reviewing their operations to ensure the utmost efficiency and timely delivery.”