CLEVELAND — As more and more people await packages on their porch during this holiday season, 3News has been hearing about more people and businesses throughout northeast Ohio that have been waiting for much longer than expected. And over the last few days, trucks have been lining up outside the USPS Distribution Center in Cleveland waiting to pick up and drop off mail.
The Postal Service has remained quiet regarding potential delays, but has maintained that their remaining deadlines for Christmas delivery as follows:
For delivery to the lower 48 states:
- First-Class Mail — Dec. 18
- Priority Mail — Dec. 19
- Priority Mail Express — Dec. 23
For delivery to Alaska:
- First Class Mail — Dec. 18
- Priority Mail — Dec. 19
- Priority Mail Express — Dec. 21
For Delivery to Hawaii:
Priority Mail Express — Dec. 21
Trucks line up outside USPS distribution site
However, viewers have written in skeptical of those dates, as letters and packages sent well before have as of yet failed to reach their destination. In their quarterly performance report, the Postal Service reported 88.2 percent of packages mailed in Northern Ohio between from July through September were delivered on time, higher than the regional average of 85.8 percent.
To help with the increased holiday shipping load, some local post offices will be open on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. throughout the holiday season.
But complaints have continued to come in, both to our newsroom and through social media. The Postal Service has warned that their phone lines are seeing much higher traffic than normal.