It’s happening again.

Most of you know that I am generally a fan of the US Postal Service.  I don’t think service should be cut to 5 days a week.   (But, if they did, I think Wednesday is the right day to cut- not Saturday.  As it is, many of my newspapers [theoretically printed LOCALLY on Thursday] arrive Saturday or even Monday.  Without Saturday delivery, I will probably cancel their subscriptions, since I, unlike my father, don’t read news that is a week old.)

And, I have used postal service boxes for a long time.  When our first (expected to be- and was- big) company was started in Ann Arbor, we weren’t sure how long our first office would serve our needs.  So, we established a mailing address (PO Box 1245).

When we moved to Charlottesville and Atlanta, the same rule applied.  So, we established box office addresses, again.  (OK, we picked the wrong sized boxes, so we eventually had 4 boxes- actually two boxes and two drawers.)  When we moved the corporate headquarters to the DC area, we were pretty sure we were staying put.  After all, it was only the executive offices (with locations still in Charlottesville, Atlanta, Long Beach- soon to include Toronto, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Dallas.)

But, our office was the sole (and historic) building on the street.  We were surrounded by parking lots.   And, we began noticing that our mail was not always delivered.  The mailperson swore we just didn’t get that much mail.  (Let me make this perfectly clear.  I PERSONALLY receive- and read- more than 100 journals a month now.  Back then it was closer to 900.  Our company back then had several hundred clients- and fax machines were few and far between.  Oh. and I did find it curious that once or twice a week, we would be getting a 13 inch tall stack of mail- with nothing on the other days of the week.)

It became a big issue.   We involved our (useless) Congressman (who is finally leaving- yeah!) and Senator John Warner.   Warner knew my politics were mostly the polar opposite of his- but on this occasion and one other- he provided yeoman service.  I have always honored Mr. Warner.  (We need more like him.  Honest, albeit sometimes misguided [come on, he disagreed with ME!], but trying to do what he thought is best for Virginia AND America.)

Come on, Roy- get to the point.

They forced the Postal Service to fire the mailperson.  And, to insure that we would get timely mail, they got us a box address for free for two years.  (Yes, we have been paying for it now for some 20+ years.)

And, now to today….

I am serving as CFO for a growing, entrepreneurial entity as one of my assignments.  And, we “received” a certified letter the other day.  One with return receipt requested.  The law requires that we sign for this document (or package) and the sender get proof of delivery.

Well, our mailperson left the mail on a table in the lobby of the complex.  (I should tell you we are not off that lobby- we have our own entrance in a separate sort of structure.)   Some days letter, one of the other denizens mentioned we had a certified letter in the lobby.   You can imagine my surprise.

When I found out that there was a return receipt involved, I hit the roof.  (Can you imagine calling the IRS and saying, “Sorry we missed the deadline for the response.  We didn’t get the letter.”  As they hold the signed return receipt in their hands?)

I tried calling the local postmaster.  But, as is true in most cities, they don’t take phone calls.  So, I sent a letter of complaint to it- and to the Criminal Investigations Office of the USPS.

It took both offices of the USPS about three weeks to respond.  And, Susan Patnode (supposedly the manager of the US Postal Inspection Service) was going to insure “whatever action they deem appropriate” would ensue.

You know what they deemed appropriate?  To wait yet another month and expect me to be mollified that “administrative action will be administered to the carrier”.

Yup.  In a word- nothing.

I figured a little publicity for incompetence and illegal activities of the DC Brentwood delivery section of the USPS couldn’t hurt the matter.

(Oh.  The sending agency recognized that the signature was neither mine nor the founders’.  Whew!)