Local USPS workers struggle with backlogs, errors amid staffing shortages

Understaffing, sorting issues and increased volume of packages are among several causes of the ongoing mail delivery problems in the Cape Girardeau area.

Three mail carrier positions need to be filled and there is still too much mail for currently employed carriers to handle. Recently added routes have resulted in sorting issues requiring manual sorting, which contributes to delays. Carriers often work long days and must cover multiple routes on top of additional packages that must be delivered.

According to Greg Davidson, a United States Postal Service clerk and local union representative, the post office can't handle the amount of mail with the current number of carriers. Davidson said the blame often goes to “people being sick and not coming to work,” but there are days when “everybody’s here and we just fall short.” Additionally, regular days off and vacations can add to the burden.

“Maybe nobody called out, but we’ve got two people on vacation, and the whole system fails. We try to get 5 or 6,000 parcels done, and maybe we get 2,000 parcels done. (Carriers) try to make it up on Sundays because Amazon goes out on Sundays, but it's awful,” Davidson said. “Then we have our manual letters. The woman whose job is to work on manual letters was on vacation last week, and we did her work.

“The machines in St. Louis can’t sort every letter, so there are some trays that come down every single day — quite a few trays — that have to be sorted manually to each carrier. I was out here Saturday morning, and I saw Monday's letters, I saw Tuesday's letters, I saw Wednesday's letters and, of course, the Fourth of July, there weren't any. There was nothing for Thursday, but then there's Friday letters and there's this Saturday’s letters.”

When mail is collected, the post office sends it to St. Louis for sorting. Davidson said mail will often come back sorted incorrectly, which requires the post office to send it back to St. Louis to re-sort. Davidson gave an example of an issue that occurred with Congressman Jason Smith’s office. It took three tries before flyers that were meant to be mailed out were sorted correctly, delaying their distribution for three weeks.

Ten new routes have recently been added for mail carriers in Cape Girardeau, including four full routes — two city and two rural — along with six auxiliary routes that part-time carrier assistants typically perform. The added routes are expected to help carriers in the long run as they reduce the number of stops a single carrier must make. But until the post office fills the vacancies, carriers will continue to work through delivering a large backlog of mail and dealing with sorting errors.

The addition of the new routes has also affected the Southeast Missourian’s newspaper deliveries, prompting several complaints.

Circulation manager Joyce Cliff explained that papers are being bundled because the software used at the distribution center still needs to be updated to reflect changes in the routes. While waiting for an update, post office staff members are forced to open the bundles and manually sort them into the proper route, hindering the process.

“Let’s say mail route Z28 has 20 customers right now, but it’s going to lose five and they’re going to go to Z30. They’re going to have to manually separate those at the distribution center to get them off that mail route that they were on and put them on the new mail route,” Cliff said.

The added volume of packages that need to be delivered has also significantly slowed down the process, as package delivery is more labor-intensive than letters. The USPS added Sunday package delivery for Amazon to its plate in 2023.

“It doesn't make that much difference on the route if you're putting five letters or two letters in somebody's mailbox. It takes the same amount of time,” Davidson said. “But when you're having to get out of your vehicle and deliver more packages, it takes so much more time.”

The lingering issues have caused longtime USPS employees to despise their work.

“Just a few days ago, I was talking to someone who's been here for just over 30 years. They said, ‘I was always proud to be a postal worker. When I put my occupation on a loan application, I was proud to put the United States Postal Service,’” Davidson said. “He said, ‘Now, I hate my job. For the first time in my career, I can sit back and say I hate my job.’”