ARLINGTON, Va. — With bitter complaints continuing to pour in that the U.S. Postal Service has still not delivered Christmas gifts, WUSA9 has heard a bit of good news for at least one postal customer suffering through a difficult bind.
A critical document sent by Timothy Kelly early in December finally arrived on the last day of 2020.
On December 28, Timothy Kelly told WUSA9 he and his fiancee Trini couldn’t get married without a birth certificate stamped and returned by the State of New York.
He mailed the unstamped document to New York authorities for the necessary processing on December 5, but according to tracking records, Kelly said it had been stopped for weeks in a New Jersey mail sorting facility.
Thursday, Kelly got notice that the birth certificate finally arrived at its destination.
Once stamped by New York authorities, Kelly must decide how to get the returned in time for the couple to present it in Ireland in person for a wedding license.
“I paid for two days shipping return as well. Given that it's taken nearly a month for it to be delivered this time, I need to leave on January 26, and honestly, I may see if I could drive up to Albany to pick it up instead of having to wait for the mail to bring it back.”
Kelly reflected on the current troubles at the U.S. Postal Service.
“My grandfather was a mail sorter in Manhattan for his career. So the post office is in our family blood," Kelly said.
"It's an American institution. People rely on it. It really connects us all as a community.“
"I hope that this is just the low point for the Post Office and that in the future we all rally together around what should be a bipartisan issue to make this work for our country.”
According to Postal Service documents, only 81.4 percent of first-class mail was being delivered within three days in the third quarter of this year which ended well before the election and the holiday rush.
The U.S. Postal Service issued a statement to WUSA9 Thursday:
"The Postal Service delivered a record amount of packages this holiday season in the midst of the pandemic which significantly impacted our workforce availability. Capacity challenges with airlifts and trucking for moving this historic volume of mail also led to temporary delays. These challenges were felt by shippers across the board. We are accepting all volumes being presented to us, which adds to the challenge of the workload. We are proud of the hard work and dedication of our employees, and will continue to work around the clock to deliver all packages and mail entered into our system. We thank our customers for their continued support and understanding."