how a $.44 stamp can fail you
hello dwell tenants:
in the recent months, we’ve been experiencing very delayed mail service for in town mail. i’ve talked with a postal worker here in town and here’s some info we wanted to highlight for you:
1. in town mail is no longer a 1-2 day process that you can count on! we’ve received rent as late as 10 days past the postmark date!
2. the post office is largely short staffed and working as fast as they can. NOTE: most postal workers, knowing how unreliable the mail service is, rarely mail bills, choosing instead to hand deliver everything.
3. we pick up our mail daily and handle it carefully. one tenant who accused us of not handling our mail properly found out the truth when she sent her rent certified mail/return receipt with an expected 2 day in-town delivery. it took five days to reach us!
4. remember that you are paying $.44 to get your rent to us on time, risking being charged a late fee if it’s received after the allowed date in your lease.
5. most of our owners contractually don’t let us waive late fees. so, if you are one of the unfortunate folks caught with late mail delivery, we won’t be able to waive your late fee.
6. the only guaranteed way to pay rent by mail is to send it with FedEx or UPS to our physical site, requiring a signature. this can cost $12 or more.
while we are not trying to discourage rent payments in the mail, as it’s the most convenient method for everyone; we wanted to make sure to notify you of this issue, so that you understand the risks you take if you mail your rent with a $.44 stamp!
June 21, 2010
When will we be able to pay online?
June 25, 2010
Hi Jill:
Hope you are enjoying our newly arrived sunshine!
We have opted not to offer a credit card payment option at this time due to the cost prohibitive nature of merchant services. It’s unfortunate as we were really looking forward to offering this service to our renters.
One way it is possible for you to pay online is through your online banking by having them send your payments automatically. It will seem “electronic” and seemless for you; but will be a form of payment that we can accept. Just make sure that you set it up with your bank well in advance so that it is recieved by our office before the deadline.
Let me know if you have any questions. Have a great summer!