About the time the Boothwyn mailing disappeared last summer, overtime at the plant was virtually prohibited, despite 30 or more employees on vacation each week, according to a manager and employees.
Murray always includes a mailing to himself. It finally arrived in November, four months late.
The fiasco cost the ambulance company between $4,000 and $6,000 in lost revenue, not to mention the $500 cost of the mailing.
Others have reported mail problems: A Philadelphia plumber whose payment from a customer arrived a month after it was postmarked; a well-wisher whose get-well card was returned three months after it was sent; a lawyer who sent invitations to a reception that arrived eight days later, after the event had occurred.
A manager explained that "third-class, or standard, mail backs up mostly - sale circulars, advertisements, credit card offers . . ."
Companies "pay money to send time-sensitive offers, and they get discounts for bulk mail. But if the mail sits, that's false advertising," the manager said. "They are not getting the delivery standard they expect.
"A lot of times, it isn't getting to homes until two, three weeks later, and a lot of times [homes] are not getting it at all," the manager added.
Chip Lillie, a senior vice president at Elwyn-based Choice Marketing Inc., said he's become so frustrated with delays at the Philadelphia plant that he now takes mail shipments to the Postal Service Center in Bellmawr, N.J.
"Mysteriously, mail headed to Philadelphia-area addresses seem to get delivered from there without much delay," he said.
Some companies track their mail on a computer, the manager said.
"They throw a fit when it's not on time. Those companies know how to put a fire under somebody to get mail delivered." *
