Pandemic, holiday crunch has local post offices flooded with more packages, long lines
Dec 9, 2020, 11:16 AM
With more and more people choosing to stay home for the holidays this year due to the pandemic, Northwest post offices are noticing an uptick in package volume.
That can mean even busier post office lobbies than usual this time of year, as people wait in line to mail gifts to loved ones in lieu of exchanging them in person.
Ernie Swanson, communications specialist for the Washington/Oregon region of the USPS, says parcel volume has been up throughout the pandemic as more people shop virtually — and it’s likely to only keep increasing throughout December with the holiday rush.
“We’re expecting next week to be particularly busy, because it’s that much closer to Christmas,” Swanson said.
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Some post offices are seeing lines snaking out the door.
“The six-foot distance makes a huge difference. We have each of our retail lobbies marked off, as do all businesses, for that six-foot distance,” Swanson said. “What presumably in the past would fit inside the building, with social distancing there may well be lines outside the door.”
If you want to make sure you avoid standing out in the cold or exposing yourself to others, there’s a way to mail your packages “virtually.” As long as you know the weight of your package, you can log onto the USPS website to pay your postage online.
“You can go in there and put in the destination information, that sort of thing, and then the postage will be computed based on the weight of the parcel,” Swanson said. “And then you can print postage from our website, attach it to the parcel, and just give it to your letter carrier when he or she comes around on their daily basis. They’ll be glad to take it to the post office for you, no extra charge.”
If you need to go in person, Swanson recommends going in the morning just after opening, or in the late afternoon just before closing to avoid the busiest times.
“Customers can help us and help themselves and help their fellow customers if they have their parcel ready to go, if it’s properly wrapped, correctly addressed, if they know what mailing service they want to use — if they want to send it by ground transportation, priority mail, or air — that sort of thing,” Swanson said. “If they have all that taken care of in advance, it could get them in and out of the post office that much quicker.”
And as always, the post offices recommend you get your mail out early.
“We say it every year, ‘Mail early, mail early, mail early,'” Swanson said. “And it’s particularly important this year.”
