Postal delivery woes continue to plague Berks County.
Agency officials acknowledge the service is experiencing delivery delays, and say there are several factors contributing to the problems.
In a statement from a local spokesman for the Postal Service, the agency cited unprecedented challenges amid the ongoing COVID pandemic that include staffing shortages at many of its post offices in central Pennsylvania.
“As you know, the American Rescue Plan expanded employee leave to respond rightly to the pandemic,” spokesman Desai Abdul-Razzaaq said in the emailed statement. “As a result, staffing is occasionally impacted and we thank our customers for their understanding and continued support.”
He added that Postal Service has taken specific actions to continue service to customers.
Those actions include:
- Continuing to fully authorize overtime to allow employees to work the time necessary to deliver mail.
- Expanding mail deliveries to earlier in the morning, later in the evening and on Sundays to ensure customers receive mail at the earliest date possible.
- Using additional carriers from nearby offices, when necessary, to maintain mail deliveries.
- Hiring additional personnel. Specifically, the Postal Service is currently seeking 40,000 workers nationwide for seasonal positions in preparation for the 2021 holiday season — the agency’s peak season for mail and package deliveries.
In support of its hiring effort, Abdul-Razzaaq said the Postal Service is hosting hiring fairs in select cities across the country where potential employees for seasonal positions can immediately apply for opportunities.
The latest postal delays are not a new problem. The beleaguered agency has failed to restore its target delivery times nearly a year after an election thrust problems at the Postal Service into the national spotlight.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced changes in March as part of a sweeping reorganization plan for the USPS as it faces a projected $160 billion deficit over the next decade. He contends the plan will cut costs and create more consistency in transportation schedules.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has been outspoken critic of the plan.
In June, Shapiro led a group of 21 attorneys general in calling on the Postal Regulatory Commission to oppose DeJoy’s proposed service cuts that could slow delivery times for first-class mail, shorten hours at some post offices and increase the price of a first-class stamp.
He said 40% of all first-class mail in the U.S. will be slowed by DeJoy’s proposed changes.
“Indeed, the events of the past year caution strongly against imposing sweeping changes of the type the Postal Service proposes,” he said in a press release. “The Postal Service should abandon its current effort and refocus its energies on fixing its ongoing performance deficiencies.”
