USPS Delays Could Cause Millions of Presents to Arrive After Holidays

Delays with the U.S. Postal Service have caused packages to pile up in USPS facilities across the country as the holiday season approaches Christmas, The Washington Post reports.

"[Customers] are screaming, 'Where's my package? Why did it go to Jacksonville, Florida, when it's going to Miami?'" said Martin Ramirez, president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 170 in Ohio. "I can't speak on that. I've never seen this before where these places are overflowing."

The Post notes the backlog at some locations has processing plants refusing to accept new shipments of mail, and packages are being left on trucks for days at a time while facilities clear up space on the floor.

Data from the Postal Service shows about 75% of first-class mail arrived within the expected one to three days during the week of Dec. 5, a significant drop from last year, when about 95% of mail was delivered on time during the first week of December.

One reason for the slowdown is the drastic increase in volume of packages since FedEx and UPS placed restrictions to limit shipping from large retailers.

"Companies like FedEx and UPS have done some pretty dramatic things to limit the flow, the volume of packages through their system," said John McHugh, the former Army secretary and GOP congressman who chairs the Package Coalition, an organization that advocates for businesses that rely on the USPS for delivery. "Postal Service can't and wouldn't do that. They take on all comers. So you can well imagine that those are who are being turned away from FedEx, UPS, and perhaps others are in all likelihood going to turn to the Postal Service."

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