INDIANAPOLIS — It is just two days away from Christmas and the U.S. Postal Service is experiencing unprecedented delays. Many customers are now wondering where their packages are and when they will be delivered.
Several people have reached out to WRTV saying their packages seem to be stuck “in transit.” Analysts predict more than seven million packages have been delayed nationwide.
Aggie Adkins said she won’t be traveling to visit family this holiday season due to the pandemic, so she took extra care to find meaningful gifts and mail them on time. She tells WRTV she mailed a package back on December 10th. It had an estimated delivery date of December 15th. As of December 23rd, it hadn’t been delivered and all the tracking number showed was “in transit.”
“This year I think people really were hoping they could at least have that moment, maybe a Zoom family call and tell everybody how much they love their gifts. We know maybe they'll get there eventually, but at this point I'm kind of like I don't know where that box is at all and I can't anticipate if and when it will arrive,” said Adkins.
We asked the USPS about these issues. They declined to answer any specific questions and only released a statement.
In an extraordinary year of unprecedented challenges given the COVID-19 pandemic and a historic record of mail and package volume this holiday season, the Postal Service encourages customers to send their holiday gifts and cards as soon as possible.
We thank our customers for their continued support, and we are committed to making sure gifts and cards are delivered on time to celebrate the holidays. We also thank our 644,000 employees who are working tirelessly throughout these unique conditions to ensure the delivery of holiday gifts and greetings.
While every year the Postal Service carefully plans for peak holiday season, a historic record of holiday volume compounded by a temporary employee shortage due to the COVID-19 surge, and capacity challenges with airlifts and trucking for moving this historic volume of mail are leading to temporary delays. These challenges are being felt by shippers across the board.
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.
The Postal Service leadership team, the unions and management associations are all working in close collaboration to address issues and concerns as they arise as we focus on delivering the Holidays for the nation.
More information can be found in our online newsroom:
https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2020/1214-usps-reinforces-importance-of-mailing-packages-early.htm [gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]
