COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. — Behind the bright, colorful clothing at Daffodil Boutique in Colonial Heights, a big problem plagues owner Nicole Pegram.
"Whenever I take my mail and put it in the drop box, I've noticed that I won't receive a notification that my mail has been delivered for at least three to four weeks," Pegram said.
Pegram said it has taken a toll on her business.
"Whenever you're getting notices in the mail that your taxes are late, yeah, that's a little concerning," Pegram said.
Recently, it took two months for her mail to make it to its final location.
The delay has prompted her to stop sending mail from the postal box at her business.
"We're a small business. We're trying to have our taxes paid on time. We're trying to have our mail, we're trying to have our water and our power bills on time," Pegram said. "We can't afford extra fees when it comes to late fees, so this is something that needs to be fixed right away."
When CBS 6 put out a call to viewers to voice their mail concerns, more than a dozen people responded and shared similar stories about mail being weeks or even months late.
One viewer shared that she'd had money stolen out of cards, and when she reported it to the Inspector General of the USPS, she received no response.
A representative from the Postal Service's Virginia District told CBS 6 it would not host a town hall to hear concerns, despite multiple requests from lawmakers, including Sen. Mark Warner (D - Virginia).
"It is not acceptable for the Postal Service to say they're not going to do a town hall. I know there's an Inspector General Investigation, some other issues going on, but my constituents deserve to hear from the Postal Service," Warner said.
Warner said the problem started about four years ago in Charlottesville and has now hit the greater Richmond area.
"Part of this goes back to pay," Warner said. "It's really hard to recruit people to go into the Postal Service as a career. It used to be a good pathway to the middle class."
Warner said despite earlier critiques of the Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, he believes DeJoy is doing a "good job."
"He's trying to turn the Postal Service around," Warner said.
Both Warner and Pegram said they wanted answers.
"I'm gonna get that resolved, and we're going to have the chance for constituents to come in and express their concerns," Warner said. "Because this is a business, at the end of the day. It's got to be more service-oriented."
"Something's not right," Pegram said. "We need to get us all together and meet with them and sit down and talk, and see what's going on."
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