BARDSTOWN, Ky. — Clark Jewelers in Bardstown, Kentucky is preparing to close its doors permanently, but promotions put in the mail were never sent to customers and it’s costing the business thousands of dollars.
The family owned business has been around for decades. The Bardstown location has been open for 43 years, but doesn’t blame the pandemic for its closing. Owner, David Clark, said he's just ready to retire and wanted to do a fun promotion so that loyal customers over the years would have something to remember.
“It was some fun things during our closing that we wanted to do for our customers,” he explained.
Clark put 5,000 flyers in the mail that offered two weekends of promotions. The first gave customers a free pair of earrings. Another came with a key, which customers would use to try to unlock a treasure chest and win a gift certificate.
The flyers have not been delivered.
“I don't know if we can recover from it without going through and printing the letters again and there's just not time to do that,” he explained.
To print the flyers, buy the envelopes and send the mail with first class stamps, Clark said it cost about $5,000. The bigger loss is the potential sales they would've made had people known about the promotions.
“$100,000 to $250,000 for this weekend that we're missing out on,” Clark said.
He said he packed the 5,000 envelopes into several boxes and brought them to the post office. He’s called to try and figure out where they are now.
“They think that possibly because they were in cardboard boxes that they may be sitting on a dock somewhere, not thinking that there's letters in those cardboard boxes,” he explained.
A spokesperson with USPS released this statement in reference to delayed packages:
The 640,000 employees of the U.S Postal Service across the nation are proud to provide an essential service to our customers during the pandemic and to meet unprecedented challenges of this extraordinary year.
We have faced challenges recently due to COVID-19 at the same time mail volumes have dramatically increased. We have taken steps to address issues caused by the pandemic as we approach our busiest weeks, including hiring seasonal employees and allocating employees to facilities that need additional resources.
There has already been progress at the Louisville Processing and Distribution Center and we are confident that our processing and delivery will return to normal levels quickly.
As we do each year, the Postal Service reminds customers to send mail and packages early to avoid glitches. For additional holiday information and resources, including mailing deadlines and packaging tips, check out the USPS holiday newsroom.
We thank our customers for their continued support, and we are committed to making sure gifts and cards are delivered on time to celebrate the holidays.
In regards to Clark’s specific case, USPS said:
I verified the Louisville Processing and Distribution Center is processing letter mail without any issues. We believe an issue involving non delivery of 5,000 letters mailed last month may involve other factors.
“Things happen. I understand that. I'm not the only person that's being affected by the postal service. We're just sorry that things are happening this way,” Clark said.
He is holding out hope the letters will be delivered before the sale starts this weekend.
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