'Christmas Volume Since March': USPS Still Dealing With Delays
CAMBRIDGE (CBS) – The U.S. Postal Service is still dealing with some post-Christmas delays. Some people in Massachusetts say packages they sent in mid-December have not arrived at their destination.
Denise Newton's package should be heading to New York. "Got an email last night that it's in New Hampshire now," Newton said. She dropped it off at a Boston area post office branch 10 days before Christmas. "It meant a lot to get it there before Christmas," she said.
Newton is not alone. Carol Ouellette of Reading shipped several packages to Pennsylvania on December 14. She paid for two-day priority.
"So I've got one in Shrewsbury after over two weeks and I have one that's completely gone at the moment," Ouellette said.
USPS spokesperson Steve Doherty told WBZ that it's been an unprecedented year.
"We thank our customers for their patience and our employees for their monumental efforts as we continue to clear record seasonal volumes," Doherty said. "Your viewers can be assured that we're running every piece of equipment at capacity and every available asset is being used to get their packages to their destination as quickly as possible. We hope to return to normal delivery schedules in the coming weeks."
John Flattery is President of the American Postal Workers Union Central Mass Local. "We've been doing Christmas volume since March," Flattery said.
He says Postal Service management at the national level could have planned better to prevent these delays. "They knew we didn't have enough help, they knew that we were going to have tons of absences because they knew COVID was coming back," Flattery said.
The Postal Service said it is making progress with the backlogs, but are now starting to see a wave of people using the mail to return items they don't want.
