No lines at USPS

[1grandmashope_1]

Just got back from the empty local Post Office. 🥳 With that said, there were only 3 visible employees working. 😬

I'm hopeful that others were helping to clear the backlog of packages. 🧑‍🎄

Merry Christmas to Everyone, 

Grandma 

[jayjaspersgarage]

Of course the post offices are empty on 12/23.  It's too late to mail anything on time. 

[glasser]

It was too late to mail something for Christmas on Thanksgiving 🙂

[1grandmashope_1]

My point being that now maybe our packages will start to move without the heavy influx of new shipping.

Just trying to add some hopeful cheer.

G.

[ed8108]

The December Covidmas shipping frenzy is near an end.

[creativecrisis]

Merry Christmas to you, too, Grandma!

I agree that USPS employees will be able to make progress on clearing the backlog now that the rush of mail into the system has slowed. They must be exhausted, I feel for them.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

Merry Christmas to you too Grandma, You are such a delight and I bet your fun during the holidays! Silver

[1grandmashope_1]

Silver, 

Thank you....fun?? Unless you are in earshot of my singing 🙉

I hope that you and your family have the very best possible Christmas.

With kindness and hope,

G.

[jayjaspersgarage]

You might think that but I mailed seven boxes to different people on 12/12 and they all arrived within eight days.   Of course I know to use small and medium flat rate boxes in December.  They generally stack easier and get out the back door of the post office quicker that odd sized boxes.  I even mailed a couple envelopes without tracking that arrived in seven or eight days this month.  That did surprise me but I seemed to have avoided all the delays people are writing about.

[slippinjimmy]

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@creativecrisis wrote:

Merry Christmas to you, too, Grandma!

I agree that USPS employees will be able to make progress on clearing the backlog now that the rush of mail into the system has slowed. They must be exhausted, I feel for them.

---

The post Christmas sales will be starting next week, add to that the massive number of returns that will also start next week. Now add to that the ever increasing number of Covid cases that will further deplete USPS workers..........

I don't expect the problems with USPS (and all other shippers) be get back to the old normal until early in 2022.

I haven't been inside a Post Office in years but here the lineups are worse than ever, not people shipping but rather long lines of people picking up.

[fjbet13]

I ordered 12 items since Dec 4. Nine had tracking 3 did not. I received 2 of the 3 without tracking. The rest are in postal limbo. 

[18704d]

I've also read the USPS is short staffed because of employees out with covid.

and yes, things are slow, and will remain slow.

I bought a cookbook, Priority, Dec 10th, directly from the author In Alabama

and it's still not here in Illinois.  Among other things, it went out of  St Louis and 4 days later, returned to St Louis, where it still sits.

We're just gonna have to give it time...

I'm hoping by Feb 1st, things improve noticeably.

Lynn

[a_c_green]

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@18704d wrote:

We're just gonna have to give it time...

I'm hoping by Feb 1st, things improve noticeably.

---

I'm going to vote for things improving noticeably by January 1st. Consider that, already, no one is dumping First Class or Priority packages into the system in anywhere near as high a volume as just one week ago. A glance inside your local post office lobby will show that.

Furthermore, post-Christmas returns are not going to be anywhere near as high a volume. What percentage of recipients would you say ship an item back? 10%? 20%? At worst, that's one in five, and even then, they're not going to ship back everything they received -- maybe one or two pieces, perhaps?

In addition, they're not rushing against a specific target date like December 25th, so if they're too busy to send back the item that day, tomorrow will be just as good. The return volume is not going to be all that high, nor will it be compressed into a short timeframe.

Finally, consider that most every USPS facility must, in everyday circumstances, have 100% throughput each day, meaning that anything coming in the door must  be dealt with that same day. Otherwise there would be an infinitely increasing backlog that would never be cleared. An intake that's, say, 30%-50% higher than normal may not get cleared in a one-day period, but once the excess intake goes away, there will be enough flexibility in the facility to catch up within a day or two. I don't expect January to be much more busy than any of the months following.

[golfingaddict]

My "oldest out there" package is dated Mailed December 8, so I feel like I am making progress.   These days fast is taking a week.  First class is longer but Priority is at least a week.

However, go figure, a buyer is returning an item that the "just didn't like" Mailed it from Florida on Saturday and it is arriving today.    

Wish I could figure it out but none of it makes sense.. Doesn't seem to matter where it is going  14 days seems to be the average.

[a_c_green]

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@golfingaddict wrote:

My "oldest out there" package is dated Mailed December 8, so I feel like I am making progress.   These days fast is taking a week.  First class is longer but Priority is at least a week.

---

Hey, small world... December 8 was a bad day for me, too. One package shipped that day was delivered just yesterday, Dec. 22, and another from that day hasn't been scanned since Dec. 12. That one's going to a reshipper in California, too, so God knows when that buyer is actually going to receive it. I think he's in Japan. Fortunately it's not a huge loss if he files an INR and wins.

I have about 8 packages en route right now, some off the radar for a week or more, but I figure they'll turn up soon. Even in all the mass of other packages, I mailed a Priority Mail shipment from Chicago on Saturday, December 12 that was delivered two days later in California, so stranger things can happen.