ROUND ROCK, Texas — For more than a decade, Sherry Leetham has created and shipped PoundPoms – pompoms with added weight – to customers nationwide.
But it wasn't until January that she began to run into roadblocks with her shipments.
The Round Rock business owner works with a manufacturing company in the city of Wharton, Texas, about 60 miles southeast of Houston. According to Leetham, her company makes the pompoms and weights and ships them off to her home, where she then creates the items into a set and sends them to customers.
"It takes me about four to eight minutes to make the set," Leetham said.
It's a venture that Leetham considers her pride and joy, as she was once a collegiate cheerleader and has been a personal trainer for 30 years.
"I realized how much fun it would be to have a fun workout, kind of hitting in the guise of cheerleading," Leetham said.
After having found her footing as an entrepreneur, business, for the most part, has been smooth sailing. When customers order their PoundPoms, Leetham always guarantees a two-week shipment.
However, that promise couldn't be fulfilled when she realized January's shipment from the manufacturing company had been delayed.
Leetham had gone through FedEx for her shipment, but later found out that it had been picked up by the United States Postal Service (USPS), as the postal service has had a partnership with FedEx for years to help with certain shipments.
"To me, that's a little bit of my integrity on the line. And this a small business that you only get one chance, you know? Takes one mistake before somebody goes, 'I'm not going to deal with that person,'" Leetham said.
Leetham then learned that in recent weeks, the Houston region has been plagued with massive delays and other problems when it comes to mailing services. She let her customers know immediately that she was working to get their orders shipped out.
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It took about a month before Leetham was able to get her shipment.
"Maybe it doesn't affect a lot of people who have big businesses, but a small business owner? You're dependent on that process," Leetham said.
Leetham hopes her business doesn't hit anymore roadblocks so she can keep sending out her PoundPoms in due time, as promised.
"It doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth. But I think it's something I'm very aware of now," Leetham said.
In response to the problems in the Houston region, the USPS Office of the Inspector General has been asked to investigate by numerous elected officials.
Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, who oversees the area that stretches from Austin to Houston, and U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy with questions about what exactly has gone wrong, and what can be done about it.
If you're having a postal service issues, you can e-mail KVUE at mailproblems@kvue.com.