“ALERT: USPS is experiencing unprecedented volume increases and limited employee availability due to the impacts of COVID-19. We appreciate your patience.”

This is the message I continued to see on my screen when I tracked a package I sent to my granddaughter Jan. 6. This was a Christmas present ordered at the beginning of December 2020 that arrived after Christmas. The package was going to Delaware County.

On Jan. 6, I mailed the package from the Center Valley post office. On Jan. 9, it arrived at the Lehigh Valley Distribution Center. I absolutely could have driven it there a lot faster than three days.

On Jan. 11, it arrived in Norfolk, Va. Why? It left Virginia Jan. 12 and arrived in Philadelphia. Later that day, it arrived in Jersey City, N.J. On Jan. 14, it arrived back in Philadelphia - and there it sat.

“Your package will arrive later than expected but is still on the way. It is currently in transit to the next facility.”

The package was finally delivered Jan. 30.

I should have known better, but for some unknown reason, I never seem to learn my lesson.

In 2016, when my son was on his way to Savannah, Ga., for college, I was advised by many experienced families to ship many of his belongings to the school in advance of our arrival. Three huge boxes filled with clothing, books, posters, etc., were shipped. Two boxes were severely damaged in the shipment, and one box was never recovered. Letters and phone calls to the postal service to find the missing box landed no results. We had not insured the boxes - another lesson learned.

In March 2018, my son went to Hong Kong for a semester. I shipped an Easter basket filled with goodies to his address there. Every day, I tracked that package and gave updates to my co-workers, much to their dismay. The package went back and forth from Hong Kong to New York three times and finally back to me.

I know I am not alone in my struggles. Many of you, myself included, are still receiving Christmas cards and delayed shipments of gifts.

I suspect many of you are like my mother, who was waiting for her prescription drugs, which were called in to the supplier in Wilkes-Barre by her doctor’s office. It took 16 days to receive her medication. When she tracked the shipment, the package had gone to Wilmington, Del., as opposed to staying in Pennsylvania, where she lives.

At one point during the pandemic, which seems to be a blur to me, USPS announced it was in trouble financially. It encouraged people to start using its services. I began sending encouraging cards to my family since we were all staying home. Those were delivered with no problems.

If, as USPS says, there is a slowdown due to COVID-19, is it not possible to hire temporary workers who are out of work to help with the backlog?

People shouldn’t have to wait for their medications, and with the price we pay to ship items, we expect the items to be delivered in a timely manner.

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” While the postal service has no official motto, these words are chiseled in gray granite over the entrance to the New York City Post Office on Eighth Avenue and comes from “The Persian Wars” by Herodotus. During the wars between the Greeks and Persians, the Persians operated a system of mounted postal couriers who served with great fidelity, according to the USPS website.

Swift completion of their appointed rounds?

Perhaps the unofficial motto needs revision.

Debbie Galbraith

editor

East Penn Press

Salisbury Press