An Albuquerque cat café says a delivery mix-up cost it more than $2,600 in donated cat food after packages meant for the business were repeatedly sent to a UPS store across the street and never reached the café.Catopia Cat Café, near Wyoming Boulevard and Paseo del Norte, rescues cats and helps them find homes. Owner Sandy Dierks said the nonprofit-style business has helped about 2,200 cats get adopted since opening in January 2019.Dierks said she first learned there was a problem when she went into the UPS Store across the street to mail a package, and an employee recognized her by her phone number.”He said, ‘Oh, you’re with Catopia?’ And I said, ‘I am,’” Dierks said. “And he said, ‘Well, we’ve been getting your packages, and you’re not picking them up.’ I said, ‘Oh, I didn’t know we had packages.’”After looking into it, Dierks said she discovered a donor had been sending monthly bags of specialized cat food since November 2022. But the packages were addressed to UPS instead of Catopia’s address, leading the deliveries to the UPS store.”It’s not a small loss, it’s a huge loss,” Dirks said. “And in rescue, everything counts.”Dierks said the donor was receiving notifications that the items had been delivered to the “front desk” and believed Catopia had received them.Instead, Dierks said, the package were treated as unclaimed.”She had signed up for monthly deliveries of a 16-pound bag of Science Diet cat food that was supposed to come to us,” Dierks said. “That’s three and a half years of monthly packages that we did not get.”Dierks estimated the total loss at about 41 bags of cat food, at roughly $64 each.”It was really upsetting to me to learn that it had been going on that long,” she said.Dierks said the loss has been especially difficult because Catopia relies heavily on donations to keep operating. She said every dollar the café receives goes back into caring for cats.”We could have done a lot with that food,” Dierks said. “If every dime that comes in here we spend on the cats, we could have done more medical for them if we weren’t having to pay for food.”In a statement, Casey Sorrell, community and public relations manager, said The UPS Store location is owned and operated by a franchisee and that the store reported receiving “a few packages from an online retailer” for someone who was not affiliated with the store and was not a mailbox customer.According to the statement, store staff tried calling the business listed on the packages, but got no response or were unable to leave a voicemail. “The store in question followed its policy regarding unclaimed mail and packages,” the statement said.Dierks said UPS offered Catopia $300, but she does not believe that is enough.”I just think, you know, even if they had made a little effort, like if it’s truly a mistake and they’re just overwhelmed and can’t keep up, I get that,” she said. “But this was mistake after mistake for like 41 deliveries.”Dirks said the address issue has now been corrected and future packages are being sent elsewhere to avoid another mix-up. She is also asking donors to let Catopia know when they send supplies so staff can track the deliveries.She hopes this story serves as a reminder for people to follow up on donated items, especially when they are sending gifts that the recipient may not know are coming.For Catopia, she said, every donation matters.”We just really appreciate them and hope that they know that every little bit helps us,” Dierks said. “It’s really important.”
An Albuquerque cat café says a delivery mix-up cost it more than $2,600 in donated cat food after packages meant for the business were repeatedly sent to a UPS store across the street and never reached the café.
Catopia Cat Café, near Wyoming Boulevard and Paseo del Norte, rescues cats and helps them find homes. Owner Sandy Dierks said the nonprofit-style business has helped about 2,200 cats get adopted since opening in January 2019.
Dierks said she first learned there was a problem when she went into the UPS Store across the street to mail a package, and an employee recognized her by her phone number.
“He said, ‘Oh, you’re with Catopia?’ And I said, ‘I am,’” Dierks said. “And he said, ‘Well, we’ve been getting your packages, and you’re not picking them up.’ I said, ‘Oh, I didn’t know we had packages.’”
After looking into it, Dierks said she discovered a donor had been sending monthly bags of specialized cat food since November 2022. But the packages were addressed to UPS instead of Catopia’s address, leading the deliveries to the UPS store.
“It’s not a small loss, it’s a huge loss,” Dirks said. “And in rescue, everything counts.”
Dierks said the donor was receiving notifications that the items had been delivered to the “front desk” and believed Catopia had received them.
Instead, Dierks said, the package were treated as unclaimed.
“She had signed up for monthly deliveries of a 16-pound bag of Science Diet cat food that was supposed to come to us,” Dierks said. “That’s three and a half years of monthly packages that we did not get.”
Dierks estimated the total loss at about 41 bags of cat food, at roughly $64 each.
“It was really upsetting to me to learn that it had been going on that long,” she said.
Dierks said the loss has been especially difficult because Catopia relies heavily on donations to keep operating. She said every dollar the café receives goes back into caring for cats.
“We could have done a lot with that food,” Dierks said. “If every dime that comes in here we spend on the cats, we could have done more medical for them if we weren’t having to pay for food.”
In a statement, Casey Sorrell, community and public relations manager, said The UPS Store location is owned and operated by a franchisee and that the store reported receiving “a few packages from an online retailer” for someone who was not affiliated with the store and was not a mailbox customer.
According to the statement, store staff tried calling the business listed on the packages, but got no response or were unable to leave a voicemail.
“The store in question followed its policy regarding unclaimed mail and packages,” the statement said.
Dierks said UPS offered Catopia $300, but she does not believe that is enough.
“I just think, you know, even if they had made a little effort, like if it’s truly a mistake and they’re just overwhelmed and can’t keep up, I get that,” she said. “But this was mistake after mistake for like 41 deliveries.”
Dirks said the address issue has now been corrected and future packages are being sent elsewhere to avoid another mix-up. She is also asking donors to let Catopia know when they send supplies so staff can track the deliveries.
She hopes this story serves as a reminder for people to follow up on donated items, especially when they are sending gifts that the recipient may not know are coming.
For Catopia, she said, every donation matters.
“We just really appreciate them and hope that they know that every little bit helps us,” Dierks said. “It’s really important.”
