USPS Struggling to Keep Up With Christmas Crunch Amidst Coronavirus Pandemic

Your Christmas presents may be arriving a little late this year. A record year in parcel intake combined with a hobbled workforce as a result of a global pandemic has created the perfect storm for the United States Postal Service. The outfit has experienced 14-percent growth in parcel delivery over the same timeframe last year, all while the service is missing a major chunk of its workforce. According to a new report from the Washington Post, nearly 19,000 postal workers have either called in sick or are quarantining due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as case numbers increase to record highs.

"Companies like FedEx and UPS have done some pretty dramatic things to limit the flow, the volume of packages through their system," Package Coalition chairman John McHugh told the Post. The Package Coalition is an advocacy group in support of the postal services and its business.

He added, "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."

According to numbers released by the paper, the Post Office is third out of the country's three major delivery services. Earlier this month, UPS was delivering 96.1-percent of its packages on time while FedEx was delivery 93.9-percent on or ahead of schedule. USPS was the one to dip below the 90th-percentile, delivering 87.5-percent of its packages and letters on time.

Though FedEx and UPS both imposed certain package restrictions earlier this month, USPS has continued to take in an estimated six million packages and letters a day.

"We're doing the very best we can," APWU (American Postal Workers Union) National President Mark Dimondstein said. "We know you appreciate that. This is a long, hard struggle. We're asking for your patience, and no delayed gift should take away from the valuable family time and the reason people come together and celebrate. Hopefully everything will make it there on time. But if it doesn't, it'll still get there."

The Post also suggests Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's cost-cutting initiatives have also played a role in the slow service, choices that have since been overturned by five separate federal courts.

Cover photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images