N.C. customers irked by US mail delays. Why they're happening, what you can do.

Feb. 10—Arthur Selby of Mint Hill sent his property insurance payment by U.S. mail on Jan. 11 to his insurer in Harrisburg, Pa.

As of Tuesday, he said, the letter had yet to arrive, and the company told him it's about to cancel his policy for non-payment.

The check he mailed to a credit card company in Philadelphia on Dec. 29 that was due Jan. 20? His January statement shows the check arrived a day late, he said, so the company socked him with a $50 late charge and $20 interest.

"This would not be acceptable five to 10 years ago, or put up with," Selby, an 84-year-old retired Internal Revenue Service special agent, told The Charlotte Observer.

When he called to "complain or explain," Selby said, he was told that lots of others were dialing in with the same issue and that 14 other callers were ahead of him in line.

Selby said that made him think the U.S. mail delivery delays are nationwide.

According to the Better Business Bureau and the U.S. Postal Service, he is correct.

"Alert:" the postal service says in white lettering outlined in bold red on a bar across the top of its website, USPS.com. "USPS is experiencing unprecedented volume increases and limited employee availability due to the impacts of COVID-19. We appreciate your patience."

Another Charlotte resident told the Observer how his recent water bill arrived a week later than usual, although spokesman Cam Coley said Charlotte Water had not heard of any such delays.

Spokespersons for Duke Energy and its subsidiary, Piedmont Natural Gas, said they encourage customers who believe their bills are arriving late to sign up to see their bill online. "We have confirmed timely delivery of our bills to the USPS," one of the spokespersons, Jason Wheatley, said in an email to the Observer.

And a Hickory man told the Observer on Wednesday that he's still waiting on a Valentine gift he ordered on Jan. 25 for his granddaughter.

"I'm not a big fan of speculation without proof, but Amazon gets me in the 2 day window nearly 100% of the time," the man said in an email.

The gift was still stuck Wednesday morning at the USPS Distribution Center in Greensboro, the man said he learned.

"I had called the company, and they sent me a replacement that arrived yesterday and told me to keep the original if it ever arrived," the man said.

COVID challenges, record U.S. mail volume

Asked if delays in mail delivery persist in Charlotte and elsewhere in North Carolina, a USPS spokesman for the Charlotte and Greensboro areas emailed a statement that U.S. postal officials have released to media outlets across the U.S. in response to similar questions.

The USPS "delivered a record number of holiday packages for the American people under some of the most difficult circumstances we've faced in the past century — specifically more than 1.1 billion packages were delivered this holiday season amidst a global pandemic," according to the statement.

"Throughout the peak season, the Postal Service, along with the broader shipping sector, faced pressure on service performance ... while also overcoming employee shortages due to the ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases, winter storms in the Northeast, as well as ongoing capacity challenges with airlifts and trucking for moving historic volumes of mail."

During its peak season, the USPS responded in part by working with union leaders to add more than 10,000 full-time jobs at facilities nationwide and "fully utilized overtime" to deal with the record volume, postal officials said in the statement.

"We extended lease agreements on annexes used to provide additional package processing and dispatch capacity beyond the holiday peak season," officials added.

BBB offer tips regarding late mail

On Feb. 2, the Better Business Bureau issued tips for getting your bills paid during what it said were ongoing mail delivery delays.

The delays stem from more people shopping online and some post offices reducing staff because of COVID-19 cases, according to the BBB.

If you're concerned about a bill payment not arriving on time, the BBB advises you to:

— Call the company if you haven't received your bill. You can pay it over the phone.

If you mailed the payment, someone on the company phone line can tell you how to avoid late fees, BBB officials said.

"Always be careful when dialing customer service numbers because scammers purchase similar phone numbers," according to the BBB alert.

— Log into your online account to pay your bill.

"Double check the URL before entering any information," the BBB advised. "Scammers often squat on lookalike website domains.

— If you sent a check that hasn't arrived in time, ask your bank to waive the stop-payment fee so you can pay the bill over the phone or online. Then call the company.

Best way to avoid hassles

The BBB suggests a simple way to eliminate such worries, by switching to one of two forms of online payments: paying companies through their mobile apps or websites, or arranging automated bill pay with your bank or credit union.

Selby told the Observer he uses the bill pay option for some of his payments, but prefers using the U.S. mail for others. The U.S. mail delays puzzle him.

"USPS brags about getting mail-in ballots to the elections board on time," he said, but the postal service took weeks to deliver him a dividend check from Charlotte-based Duke Energy.

The company mailed him the check on Dec. 16, he said. It arrived in his mailbox on Jan. 22.

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