The holidays aren't over, if you believe mail in the Charlotte region. Due to changes in the U.S. Postal Service's bulk mail delivery, ads and fliers from as far back as November are still landing in local mailboxes.
More than 100 people from Lake Norman to Rock Hill told the Observer this week they've received mail-order catalogs timed to Christmas sales, year-end solicitations from charities, and coupons and ads that expired weeks ago from The Container Store, Costco, BJ's and many other retailers.
In the SouthPark area, Sherrie Smith received a 20 percent-off coupon from Belk and saw it had expired. First she thought the retailer was running late. "But then I noticed it was everyone" whose ads and coupons were arriving behind schedule, said Smith.
In Huntersville, a neighborhood Facebook page near Birkdale Village has been buzzing since late December with tales of mail arriving weeks late. One resident wrote: "I was going to use my (Banana Republic) coupon until I noticed the November date!"
And a Charlotte man emailed the Observer to say he had found a surprise in his mailbox on Thursday: a flier advertising sales on computers for Cyber Monday - the Monday after Thanksgiving.
"We sincerely apologize for the failure," said Monica Robbs, a spokeswoman for USPS in Charlotte. She said the Postal Service is working with businesses to try to prevent recurrences.
Robbs didn't know which ZIP codes have been affected but said people "across the Piedmont" are seeing the impact.
So what happened?
"In late November, the processing method was changed" for bulk mail, said Robbs. The new methods, Robbs said, process bulk mail according to the USPS's "Service Standards," instead of the in-home delivery dates on the mailings.
According to the USPS service standards posted online, bulk mail should be delivered within three to 10 days from when it is sent.
Robbs also said high volume of mail during the holidays could have contributed to the delays.
She referred further questions Thursday to Maryland-based USPS spokesman George Maffett. "I understand there have been issues with standard mail delivery in Charlotte recently," said Maffett, via email. He said he was still looking into the cause.
Much of the mail apparently arrived at homes late last week and early this week, sometimes in large batches. Two residents told the Observer they received large bundles of bulk mail last week wrapped in thick rubber bands, advertising Christmas and pre-Christmas sales.
Also affected were year-end fundraising solicitations from nonprofits. Tom Atwood is the Charlotte-based director of fundraising for the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity's charitable foundation. Each year he oversees a national solicitation mailing to donors.
The letters are timed to arrive in early December and usually take seven to 10 days to reach donors, Atwood said.
"My solicitation, which dropped out of St. Louis, is just now hitting in Charlotte," said Atwood. Other areas of the country don't seem to be having the same delays, Atwood said. Donations rolled in from other regions before Dec. 31, as they have in years past. He's noticed the same Charlotte-specific delays with the foundation's mailed magazine.
Charlotte-based Belk has seen coupon mailings start arriving late in recent months, said spokeswoman Jessica Graham. She said the problem has largely been in "isolated incidents," and in instances where Belk verifies the coupons arrived late, the company has honored them.
The problems come at a particularly thorny time for the USPS, which is facing its largest cutbacks in decades as mail volume and revenues plummet. In November, the Postal Service reported a $5.1 billion loss for fiscal 2011.
The mail service is planning to close 252 of 487 mail processing centers by year's end, including six in North Carolina. Also, the USPS plans to end next-day delivery of first-class mail, meaning it will take at least two days to receive most mail.
First-class mail, which generates far more profits than bulk mail, has fallen sharply with the increase in email and online bill paying.
Although the USPS hasn't yet implemented its plan to close all the processing centers, changes are already under way in the Charlotte area. The USPS plans to close a mail processing facility in Hickory and consolidate it with one in Greensboro next month, saving $3.5 million a year.
Some routes have also been consolidated in Charlotte. In September, the USPS confirmed it had eliminated and consolidated 14 routes in south Charlotte, pushing daily mail service back to after 8 p.m. for many residents.
Many local residents said they started noticing late bulk mail around November.
In the University City area, bulk mail has gotten so slow that Lilia Vasquez-Hunter said she now records the date advertisements say they should be delivered by and the date they actually arrive. She marks them on her calendar.
"We've had it off and on for years, but this is the worst it's ever been," she said of the late bulk mail, which often comes three weeks or so after the deliver-by dates. Recently, a $50-off coupon from Nieman Marcus showed up in her mailbox well after the expiration date.
"Basically, that was $50 in the trash can," she said.
