Some excerpts from an article today on philly.com about delays in the Philadelphia area:
"Are you still waiting for packages from early December to arrive? You’re not alone, but be patient, postal workers warn, because it might be a while. In U.S. Postal Service facilities in Pennsylvania and across the country, hundreds of thousands of items sent in late November and early December are sitting at the bottom of massive piles of delayed mail that continue to grow with new packages daily. Employees inside the Philadelphia Processing and Delivery Center said they are prioritizing the packages coming in now, and doing their best to scrounge up items under the mass when time allows. But as the agency continues to experience record package volumes amid the pandemic, the pile keeps growing. “Honestly, it’s going to be at least six to eight weeks” until the backlog is cleared, said Laurence Love, a clerk craft director at the Philadelphia facility on Lindbergh Boulevard."
"More than 90% of packages were delivered on time in the Philadelphia metro area through November, according to ShipMatrix data. Then, Jindel said, it dropped dramatically in early December. By Christmas week, on-time delivery was below 50%. Jindel couldn’t give precise data to compare Philadelphia to other cities. “There were some days when the Post Office got 40 million packages, unlike any other business,” Jindel said. Now, as more packages continue to be sent, tracking shows “it’s last in, first out,” he said. For many people, the USPS tracking hasn’t shown an update on their item for weeks, creating an agonizing wait for not only presents, but also essential items like bills, medication, and important records."
"The unprecedented package volumes were coupled with poor preparation and a severe employee shortage due to rising COVID-19 cases, as nearly 19,000 workers were in quarantine at the end of 2020 after being infected or exposed to the virus, according to the American Postal Workers Union. The result was a backlog that veteran postal workers said was unlike anything they’ve ever seen. Facilities across the region were so full that trailers filled with mail were sitting in parking lots, and a miles-long caravan of trucks waited for hours outside the Southwest Philadelphia site because there was no room to unload parcels. Using USPS tracking, people watched their items arrive in Philadelphia, then never leave."
|