The United States Postal Service is facing an “unprecedented” volume of correspondence sent over the holiday weekend amid reports of delayed packages.
On its website, the postal service declared that it was “experiencing unprecedented volume increases and limited availability of employees due to the impacts of COVID-19”.
The high volume and personnel impacts of the coronavirus pandemic have led to reports of delays for several people who were expecting Christmas packages.
Several people told the Associated Press that the gifts did not arrive before the holiday, with delivery times extended beyond initial estimates.
A man from Grand Rapids, Michigan, said he ordered a collector model of a NASCAR race car for his father on Christmas on November 30. Although he was notified by the postal service that the gift was sent with a two-day priority on December 8, he had not yet reached his father on Thursday night.
“I understand the situation, but it is still a little frustrating,” Austin Race, 21, told the AP.
A woman in Ann Arbor, Michigan, went through a similar situation, telling the establishment that the Christmas ornaments she ordered on November 17 were stuck in Detroit, despite a December 11 message from the postal service stating that it had already arrived to Columbus, Ohio.
“I was frustrated last week thinking, ‘Come on, come here’, but now I’m just laughing at it,” she said.
She added that recipients of the ornaments could hang them on the tree next year and have a story to tell about how the pandemic made them travel and delayed their arrival.