Ongoing COVID-19 troubles causing mail delivery delays

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - On most days, Nanette Johnson receives her mail by mid-afternoon.

But for the past few weeks, the mail has been arriving a few hours late, if at all.

"It kind of felt different because we are used to getting it on a regular basis. You just wonder what you are missing," Johnson told FOX 9’s Maury Glover.

Some of Johnson's neighbors in the Fulton neighborhood of South Minneapolis say they have gone up to a week without any letters or packages being delivered.

"It's the beginning of the year. There are bills to pay. I'm having surgery in a couple of weeks and I needed my pre-op information and it was somewhere on the floor in the post office," said Johnson's neighbor Barbara Kirk.

Or they say they don't get any mail for two to three days, then get it all at once.

They've even recently had their mail delivered on a Sunday.

"There was a postal guy who came by and he was delivering packages that they he picked up because they were trying to make sure people got their medications in the mail. I said 'what's going on with the mail?’ He said 'well we've got six people working when there are usually 36 because of COVID'," said Kirk.

A statement from the U.S. Postal Service says local management is aware of delivery issues in the Twin Cities and is taking steps to address the concerns.

It goes on to say "Our workforce, like others, is not immune to the human impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. We will continue flexing our available resources to match the workload and we are proud of the efforts of postal employees as they define essential public service every day."

"It's frustrating but sometimes you just have to be a grownup," said Kirk.

Johnson doesn't like the inconvenience, but she understands how difficult being a postal carrier can be.

"I think it's unfortunate but I do think it will be rectified and I think we'll go back to normal hopefully," said Johnson.