Mail processing company SmartMail Services said Friday it met the delivery performance commitment it made to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles in late January 2003, disputing an Indianapolis Star story that said 200,000 of the state's 500,000 plate renewals submitted in January were mailed late.
The article said Indiana officials are blaming SmartMail Services, saying the company could not keep up with a record number of online vehicle registration renewal orders. Bureau commissioner Gerald B. Coleman ordered the cancellation of an agreement with SmartMail Services on Feb. 21.
SmartMail, however, says problems began before it started work with the state.
“SmartMail's relationship with the Indiana BMV began in late January,” said David Sapp, executive vice president of sales at SmartMail. “From the information we have been able to gather from the Indiana BMV and other media outlets, numerous problems occurred in early, mid- and late January, prior to our involvement in the distribution of their license plates.”
SmartMail said its deliveries began Jan. 27 and ended Feb. 20. In this time the company delivered 43,803 license plates to the U.S. Postal Service for the Indiana BMV. Every plate was collected, processed, sorted, tracked and delivered to the appropriate USPS facility within 48 hours. According to SmartMail, the USPS then would make the “final mile” delivery in the next 24 to 72 hours.
