The worker shortage is still affecting many workplaces and the local post office is no exception. The people of Dover, Pennsylvania say they have not received their mail in almost two weeks and they are at a loss of what to do.
“The old saying used to be, ‘Through rain or sleet or snow, no matter what the weather, the mail must go through.’ That don’t hold anymore,” said Dover resident Donald Simmons.
They say it’s an ongoing issue, but it is getting worse around the holidays.
Local residents, Cari Flora and Richard Elwell really started noticing the problem about a month ago.
“We had planned a trip and we were waiting for something to come in the mail. I had to cancel that trip because it never showed up,” explained Flora.
Some say they have not received any mail or packages in weeks, while others say they receive bits and pieces about once a week.
Several concerned residents tried to reach out to the post office, but haven’t had any luck.
“Unfortunately, because I'm super busy I couldn't sit on hold for a long time,” Flora said.
However, one nearby resident was able to get through.
“He just said, you know, that they're short-staffed and that there's nothing they can do here in Dover because it’s being sorted elsewhere. So, until someone sorts it, it never gets here to get delivered,” explained Amy Wilkinson, a nearby resident.
It's not just dropping off the mail that’s becoming an issue.
For Wilkinson, who pays everything by check, her mortgage payments and other checks aren’t being picked up by the drivers.
“So the mortgage company calls and I have to take off work to drive to the other side of York to drop off my payment,” said Wilkinson.
In a statement to CBS 21, The United States Postal Service says they “are experiencing sporadic challenges with employee availability in some locations.”
To try and fix it, they are allowing overtime, expanding mail deliveries to early mornings and late evenings, using additional carriers from nearby offices, and hiring more people.
But, the residents don’t blame the workers.
Flora explained, “I know they're short-staffed, the world is short-staffed right now. It's not our drivers, it's not the postal workers in the building, it’s whoever is giving them their orders.”
As for solutions, the residents have many ideas, but what they want most is transparency.
“You can only manage delivering mail two days a week,” continued Flora. “That’s fine. Let us know which two days so we can make arrangements for everything else.”
Some of the community members say they finally received bits of their mail yesterday, so time will tell if this issue is resolved or if it will happen again.