Expectation of Email Delivery

When you get someone's business card with an email address on it, it seems to me that you can hold the expectation that, if you send email to him, he will most likely receive it. Does this seem reasonable and logical to you?

Of course, there are certain circumstances when that person might not receive your message. He might have left the employ of the organization named on his card; it might have changed its entire email server, although there should be a forwarding function that would deliver the mail and give notice of the change in email address; or it might just be returned to the sender, if there was a printing error on the business card.

But - what if the email address is correct and there is no change in the email server? And especially if the recipient is an employee of a large, local government? Let's say, McHenry County Government?

For four months I have been providing information to an employee with a McHenry County Government email address. Where did I get his email address? From his business card that he handed me after we met in his office.

This information was important and pertained to our conversation. It expanded upon our conversation and provided additional examples of information he would need to move forward in resolving the matter we had discussed.

Imagine my surprise (and disgust) to learn that my emails must have gone into the County's spam or junk e-mail black hole, because my own email address was apparently not in this employee's email Address Book.

My question today was, doesn't someone scan the email in the spam file to determine whether it has value and should be delivered to the addressee? Well, apparently, no one does!

And this is something that the public wouldn't realize was happening, because no return email is sent to alert the original sender that his email was not delivered. At the least, there should have been some type of auto-response to warn the Sender - to give him notice that his email was not delivered, so that he could provide it by fax, by U.S. Mail, in person or by calling the intended recipient to ask why email did not reach him.

Instead, the natural reaction is that an unprofessional atmosphere must exist in that office or that the Sender is being ignored.

Certainly, an administrative or secretarial staff employee could skim incoming emails that dead-end in the spam file and make an initial decision about whether each was worthy of attention. She could have three choices: Deliver it; route it elsewhere for a decision; leave it in the trash. It shouldn't take too much training for a person to be able to to do. And it wouldn't take a lot of time to do it. Perhaps 2-3 seconds per email?

I was in a County office 2-3 months ago when, on working time, six employees were standing around at 8:30AM looking at a party-plan brochure and choosing items to order. Could their time be better used?

Our County Board members and County Administrator would do well to jump on this issue and order that it be resolved.

The next time you send an email to a County employee and don't get a reply within 48 hours, call! Don't send a follow-up email.