ANDERSON — Members of an Anderson family were concerned they wouldn't be able to pay their bills on time. They say the problem was a mail mixup.
In the first place, it's been a tough few month for Jennifer Abbott. First her grandmother got sick, then she says she realized her mail wasn’t showing up at her Main Street address. “All of a sudden, our mail stopped coming we didn’t understand why,” said Abbott.
Once her grandmother got out the hospital in September, that’s when she says she started trying to get answers. “She got home, I went to the post office and they said somebody reported our house for COVID-19,” said Abbott.
Abbott said the postal supervisor explained her family's mail would not be delivered, but would be kept on hold. At that point, Abbott told the supervisor her grandmother did not have COVID. “I ended up telling them she’s not positive she’s negative. She had a second test done. Our house is COVID free,” said Abbott.
At this point, Abbott had her mail, but wasn't satisfied with the way the Postal Service had handled the matter, so she got in touch with WRTV.
WRTV listened to her concerns, and talked with neighbors who backed up Abbots claim. “Our neighbors got a stack of our mail. Two neighbors down the street got a huge stack of our mail,” said Abbott
From there, WRTV reached out to the Postal Service and asked about its procedures for delivering to homes during the pandemic. USPS says every precaution is taken to protect mail carriers, but said a COVID case at a home won't stop the mail from being delivered.
“I just want my mail so I can pay my bills and not have late charges or stuff, get shut off or my car get repossessed," said Abbott.
After WRTV got involved, Abbot started getting her mail at home. USPS is still looking into these allegations, and provided this press release about its approach to handling COVID-19. https://about.usps.com/newsroom/covid-19/
