RICHMOND, Va. -- Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney said she has canceled a planned town hall to address issues with the United States Postal Service because she said no one from the federal agency would commit to attending the event.
"Unfortunately, the Postal Service was not willing to do that," said Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Collette McEachin.
McEachin said her office began organizing the event after one of her staff members became aware of delivery issues in city neighborhoods and added there has been an increase in thefts from USPS blue drop boxes and robberies of postal workers.
"I really thought, 'Well, let's get all the people together who have the questions and who could answer those questions and have a town forum,'" McEachin said. "The fact that mail is not being delivered just makes me curious, if not suspicious. And I wonder where that mail is and who is doing what with it and why no one from the postal service was willing to at least have that conversation with Richmond."
McEachin said her office had been in communication with several people with USPS who could speak to the various issues, but said not would commit to coming to the town hall.
McEachin said, instead, her office has put out the following guide to let Richmonders know who to contact depending on their issue.
"We hope that that grid is helpful for people and that they can at least make some noise by letting the post office know that it's not just one individual, it's affecting hundreds if not thousands of Richmond residents," said McEachin.
Among those in Central Virginia who said they have experienced what McEachin is talking about are the Woodards who live in Bon Air.
Judy Woodard said her experience began when she tried to ship her mother's ring to her son in California so he could propose to his girlfriend.
She said she posted it as registered mail on October 12 and was told it would arrive within the first few days of the next week but it did not. When she went back to her local post office and found while the package had left there, it had been sent to the Sandston facility where it had remained for nearly a week.
"It didn't leave for five or six days, it was still stuck at that location. And we could not find out why."
Woodard credited the effort of the local post office worker throughout the experience who was working to find the package, while Woodard called USPS Consumer Affairs.
"This whole time this lady was helping and very helpful," said Woodard. "She was involved and very instrumental."
Woodard said the package was finally moved several times between other Virginia locations and, according to text updates she got, was in Kentucky at one point.
The Woodards said they were getting ready to file an insurance claim on the package, when their local worker called someone she knew at the Dulles facility where the package currently was and got it sent in an overnight package and it finall arrived on October 27th.
"It was kind of scary, actually. When you send it registered and pay the amount, — no worries about the fee, that's no big deal — but, you think you can track it? Where it was at any certain time, but they couldn't ever tell me where the package was."
Meanwhile, Woodard's husband, Jim, said his work has been frustrated by USPS service when trying to send mail within the city from Stony Point, adding it could take four-to-five business days or more.
"We mail forms...that have to be signed, back and forth, correspondence with clients. And I can tell you, it's a joke. We often joke within the office and other folks about the poor quality of movement of mail in the city of Richmond," said Jim. "We started overnighting packages just to get FedEx involved, because the documents are that important to get signed to get back."
CBS 6 has reached out to USPS for comment about McEachin's town hall and the Woodards' experience but has not yet heard back.
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