Mail delays impact small coffee business

Mail delays impact small coffee business

ODON, Ind. (WISH) – Michael Filley has been in business for three years, and he knows how busy mail deliveries can be during the holidays.

However, he said this year has been especially slow, with customers either not receiving their orders or waiting days for their orders.

Filley owns Wild Spirit Coffee, an artisan coffee bean company.

“I also just have four packages locally just disappear,” Filley said. “There’s no tracking on it, and its getting to the point where my customers are really upset about it.”

In addition to four missing packages, nine more packages are delayed. Filley says he’s losing hundreds of dollars to replace and resend coffee, but that’s not what he’s worried about.

“If I lose customers, it’s what I lose in the long run,” Filley said. “That’s the scary part for a small business like me.

Filley claims his customers pay for priority shipping about 1-3 days to ship so they can get their coffee beans fresh, but he says its taken as long as 10 days with his local customers being affected the most.

“New York, Ohio, and Kentucky were all delivered before I could send from Odon to Indy, which is usually there the next day,” Filley said.

The U.S. Postal Service processes more than 11 billion packages during the holidays. They didn’t address Filley’s case specifically, but they provided News 8 with the following statement:

“USPS is meeting the challenge of the year’s peak surge in mail and package volume with expanded processing capabilities, optimized transportation strategies, enhanced operational precision and the dedication of employees nationwide.”

Filley, who has been on the phone with them for hours, doesn’t seem too impressed with their response.

“They have to do better because small businesses require this for them to stay in business,” Filley said.