US Airways and the Postal Service

I just got my severance check today. According to the yellow stickers (yes, plural stickers) my check has been bouncing back and forth between Washington, DC and Lewisville since July 7!! Four yellow stickers indicate my check was "returned to sender" each time.

Now, the address on the check is, in fact, my correct address. I am absolutely at a loss as to why the local post office sent it back in the first place. I've received other pieces of mail (mostly junk and bills) at my address. Why someone slapped on the first yellow sticker I'll probably never know. I can only guess at the initial excuses, "We had a new employee." "We got your name confused with someone else."

Upon return receipt, US Airways did exactly what they were supposed to do: check employee records. Yep, the address on the check is the same one we have on file. Maybe it was just a new employee or name confusion. We'll just drop the check into the nearest mailbox, yellow sticker and all.

Now the post office is holding my severance check for the second time, and, noticing the yellow sticker....what do they do? Check their computer for a correct address? Remove the original sticker and deliver the check to the correctly printed address? Seek a supervisor for additional assistance? Heck no! We'll just assume we were correct the first time and that Cheryl isn't at that address. Slap goes another sticker. Shuffle off to Washington.

My check is, again, in the hands of US Airways. Have you read the papers about the airline lately? They are overworked and morale is so low since too many employees have been layed off due to the merger. (Hello? I totally understand. It is my severance check after all!) Everything is moving to corporate headquarters in Tempe, AZ and since Washington, DC is not in Tempe...well, we'll just re-re-mail the check to the exact same address. And because they are overworked and losing their jobs they don't care enough to remove both yellow stickers.

Now the post office is admiring my check for the third time. Did the price of stamps go up recently? We've no money to pay (good) employees since too many people are emailing these days and snail mail is becoming obsolete. So are postal (no pun here) employees. With an attitude similar to US Airways' the third yellow sticker gets slapped on my check. Shuffle ball change back to Washington.

Are there US Airways employees still in Washington? No human being could have possibly layed eyes on my severance check. There are three neon yellow stickers pasted on my check. No one investigates employee records to find a telephone number. Nope, instead we'll make an assumption. She is obviously not at the listed address, so any telephone number located would most likely be incorrect as well. Third time may just be the charm....re-re-re-mail to Lewisville.

Now the post office is really getting ticked. Three yellow stickers? Is US Airways that dense? Does US Airways not understand what "return to sender" means? Well this should teach that airline....whack goes the fourth yellow sticker. Drop kick back to Washington.

We were guaranteed to receive severance checks within 45 days. Most of my co-workers received them within 4 weeks. Two days ago I send an email to my HR representative who, incidentally, is in Tempe, AZ. I receive a voicemail from US Airways who, incidentally, is located in Washington, DC advising that I should be receiving my check by Friday. "Please call back if you do not receive it."

A package was hand-delivered this afternoon to my door compliments of FedEx. My severance check, with four yellow stickers attached, was inside.

Tempe, AZ and FedEx....I thank you. To the rest of you, well, enough said.