Late mail frustrates Chamber of Commerce

Business newsletter gets to customers 10 days late; post office can't explain delay

May 17, 2006

By COREY YOUNG
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

The Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce doesn't know how many copies of its "Petaluma Business" newsletter arrived late to members last week.

But the group does know it's not the first time.

"We've been having problems with the bulk mail facility of the post office for a few months now," said Onita Pellegrini, executive director of the Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber sends three publications to members and other readers as bulk mail, which gets the group a lower postage rate -- but such mailings are a lower priority than those marked with first-class stamps.

Pellegrini said the chamber drops 900 copies of its newsletter -- sorted by zip code as the post office requests -- at the North McDowell Boulevard sorting facility a week before they should arrive in mailboxes.

In the past few months, however, the material has been delivered late -- as much as 30 days late, Pellegrini said. For a group that holds frequent events and keeps its members apprised of local happenings, late mail can mean useless mail.

"It makes us look totally unprofessional," Pellegrini said. "We've had events where we've wondered why there wasn't a larger crowd."

In the latest example, the business newsletter -- marked "Deliver by May 1" -- arrived to several mailboxes on May 10 or later, the chamber said. The newsletter advertised a banquet that was held May 12, but tickets were being sold in advance.

"I just want them to deliver my mail," Pellegrini said. The chamber has tried contacting local postal officials, but "Everybody points the finger at somebody else. They're telling us they're meeting the timeline."

Rene Evans, supervisor of the postal carrier office on South McDowell Boulevard, said local officials don't know why the May 1 mailing was late.

"At this point, all we can do is speculate about what happened," she said. "We want to monitor the next one."

Within two or three days of being dropped off at the sorting facility by chamber officials, the mail "should have been to us for deposit in the customers' box," Evans said.

Tom McKenzie, the quality control specialist at the North McDowell sorting facility, said he'll personally oversee the chamber's next bulk mailing.

"There's no way it should take more than three or four days at the most," McKenzie said. "That's the kind of service you would and should expect."

(Contact Corey Young at cyoung@arguscourier.com)