Snow leads to postal delays

Record volume, COVID also contributors to services’ challenges

Amid sporadic delays and office closures, postal officials say if you haven’t sent your greeting cards and packages already they are not like to arrive by Christmas, unless you send it by Priority or Express mail.

Mail delivery on Thursday was delayed in some spots due to impassable roads, especially in Schenectady and other locations, spokeswoman Maureen Marion said.

The Postal Service’s Albany District runs from the Berkshires to the Adirondack High Peaks to the Southern Tier over through the Finger Lakes.

In that area, it had 659 of 679 offices open.

“Hardest hit area was the Southern Tier where some offices were opened (Thursday) with limited staff on site but roads were impassable,” Marion said in an email on Friday afternoon.

“Schenectady and parts of the Capital Region were also very much in a snow recovery mode yesterday, impacting the ability of our employees to report to work and, once there, to move the mail from facility to facility and then out onto the streets for delivery,” she added.

By Friday, however, all of the offices in the Albany District were able to put letter carriers on the road.

“It may not mean that every street is walkable or every mailbox accessible. But we are moving the mail where it is safe to do so,” she said.

She reminded people to clear a path for their mailboxes, driveways and stairs so carriers can get through.

A combination of more shipping and employees who are out sick with COVID -19 has made this year a record setter for mail volume as well as the number of packages being shipped, not just by the Postal Service but by shippers such as UPS and Fedex as well as Amazon.

“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,” said Kristin Seaver, the Postal Service’s Chief Retail and Delivery Officer said in a prepared statement.