ATLANTA — Michael Herzog runs a small business, and when it comes to months of mail delays in Georgia, the impact is big.
“Up to fifty percent of my customers pay by check...I send a lot of invoices out,” Herzog said.
Herzog, like others, started noticing the delays in late February. Shortly after, our 11Alive investigation revealed problems at the new regional processing and distribution center in Palmetto.
As we tracked your complaints about everything from missing prescriptions to concerns about absentee ballots that never arrived - months later, the delays for Herzog and others are adding up.
"A month can go by, and you can have missing or delayed payments of anywhere from five to ten thousand dollars,” Herzog said. But if that adds up in three or four months time, you’re talking thirty to forty thousand dollars.”
11Alive was in DC last week for a tense exchange between Senator Jon Ossoff and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill, where Georgia’s mail delays took center stage.
“I can assure you, in the long run, that you will probably have the best service in the country,” DeJoy said during the hearing.
“The long run is too long,” Ossoff quickly fired back. “You've got weeks not months to fix this and if you don't fix this, I don't think you're right for this job.”
The postmaster general told senators that mail operations in Georgia should be back to normal within 60 days, and 11Alive continues to track the data. While the Postal Service’s latest numbers show the on-time rate for first-class mail is improving overall, only 37% of single-piece letters are being delivered on time.
Herzog meanwhile took his concerns to customer service and shared the emails with 11Alive, where he was told the postal service is "specifically excluded by federal law from liability for 'any claim arising out of the loss, miscarriage or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter' for any items that were not insured at the time of mailing."
"It can be frustrating to one - be told to stop complaining. And two - we have more expensive services for you to pay for if you want to try and avoid the problem in the future, rather than focus on what the problem is to begin with,” Herzog said.
11Alive will continue to hold the postmaster general accountable for the timeline put forth.