An Asian American family in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens in New York didn’t quite know what to think when they closely looked at a package delivered by Federal Express.
The driver following contactless guidelines by the delivery service signed the package for them. The signature read TCovidChan.
Was this another offensive broad stroke jab at China which some have translated into racial animosity against Asian Americans?
The family contacted FedEx for an explanation, but the customer service rep refused to apologize.
‘”COVID” indicates a “no-contact deliver,”‘ the rep is quoted as saying.
AsAmNews asked our readers on our Facebook page if they’ve noticed similar signatures left on their FedEx package.
One person sent us two examples. The first received by him.
“My brother also recently had one and it looks like they just randomly assign initials and add COVID.”
We decided to contact FedEx directly.
“FedEx is very appreciative of our team members’ tireless efforts during this unprecedented time when our customers and communities need us more than ever,” said spokesperson Davina Cole. “As part of our efforts to promote social distancing by limiting personal interaction, we have suspended physical signature requirements for the vast majority of shipments. Instead, our drivers and couriers are temporarily entering a code when a signature is not required upon delivery.”
But is that code COVID? The company isn’t directly saying. If that code is COVID, would they consider coming up with a different code to avoid any misinterpretation?
“We regret any misunderstanding this might have caused among our customers, and appreciate their understanding and support of our efforts to protect our team members and the general public,” Cole continued.
Still no word whether they’ll consider changing the code or further explanation of what that code is. We’ll let you know if FedEx gets back to us.
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