COLUMBUS, Ohio — Residents in Upper Arlington claim they have been left without mail for days, some since last Thursday.
Many are facing long waits for important documents like photo IDs, bills and medications.
"We've now gone a whole week without any mail. And the excuse they have is that they don't have employees," said Catherine Engram. "We're suffering for a whole week. I've misplaced my driver's license and my credit cards, and I'm waiting for my driver's license and two credit cards, and it's kind of scary during the holidays. So, we're just all frustrated."
For the United States Postal Service, it's the busiest time of the year.
Michelle Shimmel, a USPS customer relations manager, said, "We've hired an additional 230 Christmas workers to help with the onset slot of the additional packaging, and locally, we've just introduced our new machine. It's called the sips machine, which is the single induction package sorter, and it will start an additional 2,000 packages per day."
USPS sent 10TV the following statement:
"The Postal Service is committed to providing the best possible service to our customers, and we apologize for any inconvenience that may have been experienced. Local management are aware of delivery issues and taking steps to address the concerns. We appreciate the patience of our customers. We will continue flexing our available resources to match the workload and are proud of the efforts of postal employees as they define essential public service every day.
When mail service issues occur, we take steps to quickly resolve customer concerns. We gladly work to address any specific issue from the community when brought to our attention, and we encourage customers to reach out to their local postal station. Customers can also go to our website, usps.com, and click on "Contact us" at the bottom of our homepage, or utilize this direct web address: https://usps.force.com/emailus/s/. Every email will be carefully documented and appropriate action taken to strengthen service.
In addition, the official Twitter account of the United States Postal Service, managed by the social media staff at USPS HQ, can provide help. For customer service, please tweet @USPSHelp. The Postal Service will diligently continue to investigate customers' concerns and correct deficiencies to improve service to our communities."
Engram said they just want to know when to expect their deliveries. "We just want to know when we're going to get our mail. That's all we want. We just want communication," she said.
To ensure your holiday mail arrives by Christmas, USPS says make sure to send it out in time through first class by Dec. 17, through priority by Dec. 19 and through priority express by Dec. 23.