Imagine working 10-12 hours a day or more working full speed to do your job, only to be disparaged over and over in the news and on social media. That’s what postal workers are going through right now.
We are working non stop to get your Christmas packages delivered, but it is an uphill battle. Here are a few things we wish the public understood.
- We are in the middle of a pandemic. Nothing is ordinary in the world right now. Everything is out of whack.
- The Postal service has over 15k people in quarantine and out for COVID reasons. There are simply not enough people to work the unprecedented volume.
- Because of the pandemic, more people than ever are shopping online. It’s become the #1 way to shop. People are either afraid to go out, not allowed to go out, or they don’t want to stand in line to get into stores.
- The USPS had a change in leadership this year. Sorting machines were dismantled early in the year. Even though the process was stopped eventually, who knows how many were dismantled before that.
- The election – In November the USPS focused all resources to delivering the election. We were behind before we even began to deliver Christmas.
- UPS and Fedex drop what they consider “unprofitable” deliveries on the USPS. Every single day! They’ve been doing this for years.
- UPS and Fedex have limited what they will pick up from major retailers. They started doing that after Black Friday. Who do you think that extra volume ends up on? The postal service. The USPS doesn’t have the option to reject packages.
- Package volumes are up 70% in some places compared to last year.
If you have read this far down, then I just have a few things to end with. Please have a little compassion for postal workers right now. We KNOW that you need your packages by Christmas. We KNOW that your Christmas might be ruined if they don’t get there. We are doing everything we can to move the volume.
If your package is stuck at a distribution center, your local USPS workers have no idea when it will be delivered. We deliver what they send us and if your package is late, there is nothing we can do to make it move faster. We know your packages are late and we know you need them. We can only do what we can do.
Try to remember there are actual people behind the USPS delivery pipeline, not robots, and we are doing everything physically possible to get your packages to you. We want nothing more than for you and your family to have a Merry Christmas.
Not speaking in an official capacity for the USPS – Just an insiders view of what is happening behind the scenes in this unprecedented Christmas season. – Ruralinfo.net