Why mail was not delivered to her Richmond neighborhood: 'This is affecting people's lives'

RICHMOND, Va. -- Faye Richardson has lived in her home on Blendwell Road off Walmsley Boulevard for more than seven decades.

Since Monday, the 94-year-old has checked her mailbox multiple times a day to see if she's received mail. By Thursday, she hadn't.

"We don't have anybody that's delivering our mail," Richardson. "We haven't had any mail delivered here since Monday night."

Richardson said she was told by employees at her local post office that her delivery driver retired, and USPS does not have a replacement. USPS told Richardson and her neighbors that they will have to come pick up their mail in person until the matter is resolved.

"I said we're not going to do that," Richardson. "We're not going to put up with that. We're paying your salary. Who's going to pick up the mail?"

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"It's kind of par for the course, for the things we've been seeing in the last number of years," said Deborah Jones, her neighbor.

Jones, Richardson, and other neighbors have been recent victims of missing mail, leading to different late bills and extra fees.

"This is affecting people's lives and costing people money," Jones said.

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Now the neighbors worry about people who can't always make it to the post office in time and may have to pay the price because of it.

"I don't drive anymore and that type of thing," Richardson said. "I get where I need to go because I've got good children and good neighbors and good people who take care of me and that kind of thing, but the mail service is supposed to be taking care of all the people."

USPS told CBS 6 in a statement: "Due to employee availability issues this week, that route had to be rotated and customers have not received mail every day this week. Normal mail delivery is expected to resume in the next few days. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank customers for their understanding."

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