USPS 'gridlocked' as historic crush of holiday packages sparks delays

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

USPS ‘gridlocked’ as historic crush of holiday packages sparks delays

Private carriers FedEx and UPS have cut off deliveries for some retailers, rerouting surging mail volumes through the overwhelmed Postal Service.

By Hannah Denham and Jacob Bogage
12/15/2020, 8:59:32 a.m.

A historic crush of e-commerce packages is threatening to overwhelm U.S. Postal Service operations just weeks before Christmas and runoff elections in Georgia that will decide control of the U.S. Senate, according to agency employees and postal industry tracking firms.

As Americans increasingly shop online because of the coronavirus pandemic, private express carriers FedEx and UPS have cut off delivery service for some retailers, sending massive volumes of packages to the Postal Service.

That has led to widespread delays and pushed the nation’s mail agency to the brink. Postal employees are reporting mail and package backlogs across the country, and working vast amounts of overtime hours that have depleted morale during another surge of coronavirus infections nationwide.

“We’re really gridlocked all over the place,” said a Postal Service transportation manager in Ohio, who like others in this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution. “It’s bad. I’ve never seen it like this before.

“UPS and FedEx have shut us off. Nobody can keep up right now, but we don’t have the luxury of turning people down. They’re sitting on so much mail right now that it’s almost one day at a time in these facilities.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/15/postal-service-holiday-packages-delays/

[SunSeeker]

1. I feel sorry for my mail carrier, some days he's delivering mail as late as 10 pm!

He looks exhausted. Not only is DeJoy doing nothing to support the work force, he is sabotaging them.

I can't wait for DeJoy to be gone. He began systematically kneecapping the post office when he took over, all to help Trump suppress Democratic mail-in ballots during a pandemic. He destroyed mail sorting machines, for fuck's sake.

[pfitz59]

2. My apartment lobby is flooded with packages every day.

All the delivery boxes and bins are full.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Thanks DeJoy.

[tanyev]

4. Yep, between Covid and USPS sabotage, it's the Trump Administration waging a War on Christmas.

[Chakaconcarne]

5. Hopefully there will be enough time after x-mas to see ballots to their counting destinations