Several USPS employees recently worked together to ensure an Indianapolis customer made an international flight that he was in danger of missing.
In planning a business trip to Shanghai, health executive Kun Ma mailed his passport to the Chinese Embassy in Chicago and asked that it be returned to him, along with his visa, via Priority Mail Express.
Because Ma was busy making other preparations for his trip, he didn’t realize until 18 hours before his flight’s departure that his passport and visa had not yet arrived.
In a panic, Ma called a USPS customer care line and spoke to Consumer Affairs Representative Jennifer Berry-Pipkin, who jumped into action.
“I assured him we would do everything to find his package,” she said.
Berry-Pipkin began alerting Indianapolis processing plants and soon heard from Calvin Scott, a supervisor at the High School Road Annex, who located the package. It was delivered to Ma that night by Scott Heyde, a maintenance engineer at the nearby Mail Processing Annex.
“After driving in ice and snow and bitter cold, close to midnight and only seven hours before my flight departure, [Heyde] rang my doorbell and handed me the package,” Ma said.
He made his flight to Shanghai, and also took time to send a thank-you note to Berry-Pipkin.
“I will remember forever people’s kindness, motivation and capability at USPS,” Ma wrote. “Thank you for all you have done for me.”