The U.S. Postal Service is struggling to keep up with "historic" mail volume this year, worsened by a worker shortage brought on by the COVID-19 surge, and is bracing customers for holiday delivery delays.
What You Need To Know
- US Postal Service experiencing delays in holiday mail processing
- Agency cites worker shortage due to COVID-19 surge, historic mail volume
- It's strongly urging people to mail holiday cards, packages as soon as possible
Because of that, the Postal Service on Monday urged customers to mail their holiday packages as soon as possible.
"We continue to flex our network including making sure the right equipment is available to sort, process and deliver a historic volume of mail and packages this holiday season," Kristin Seaver, Chief Retail and Delivery Officer of the Postal Service, said in a statement.
"These challenges are being felt by shippers across the board," the Postal Service said.
In addition to the record mail volume, the pandemic surge is causing a "temporary employee shortage." The agency did not elaborate.
"Capacity challenges" with transportation equipment are also contributing to the delivery delays.
To alleviate the mail surge, Sunday delivery was added November 29 to areas with high package volumes, and the Postal Service is offering Christmas Day delivery, for a fee, in some locations.
