MAINE, Maine — Mail carriers like the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx suggest people ship their packages sooner rather than later this holiday season.
Steve Doherty is a communications specialist for the Postal Service. He said the postmaster general implemented his Delivering for America plan to prepare for this holiday season, including investments in people, equipment, and technology to help the postal service succeed through the holidays.
"Over the past year, we’ve converted 63,000 new employees to full-time career positions," Doherty said. "In addition to the 40,000 or so temporary employees that we typically hire for the holiday season, we’ll be hiring to fill an additional 60,000 pre-career positions for the long term."
He said since the beginning of the year, the Postal Service has been hosting job fairs across the state and aggressively recruiting to meet this increased holiday demand.
"While we work to increase our staffing, we’re flexing our current resources to keep the mail moving for all of our Maine customers," Doherty said. "This is why you may see carriers out delivering parcels at 6 a.m. or on Sundays."
For concerned customers waiting for packages or mail, he said they are currently using a combination of supplemental employees and overtime to cover temporary employee vacancies or leave, which is why customers may see mail arriving later in the day.
"When needed, employees from another community may shift to a nearby town to fill delivery needs," Doherty said. "We've been actively recruiting throughout the year, so we definitely have enough people in place to get through the holiday successfully."
The suggestion to Mainers from the three biggest mail carriers is to get packages in the mail early and avoid the last-minute holiday rush.
"We do urge everyone to mail early. You want to try to get your packages in the mail by the 15th to 17th to make sure they get home in time for the holidays and also be aware of supply chain issues," Doherty said. "If you order something, look at the expected delivery date, because if they tell you to expect it the third week in January, that doesn't mean it'll be delayed in the mail all that time. That means they won't be able to ship it until the second week of January, and that's something we have no control over. But once it gets over the mail stream ... we will get it to you quickly."