The holiday season is over but people who were supposed to get packages in December say they are still waiting for deliveries from the United States Postal Service.
Katie Burchill of Bourne, Massachusetts, said she has been tracking her missing package for three weeks.
"I have my slip. I mailed four packages on the same day," Burchill told NBC10 Boston Responds. "Two to Connecticut and two to New York and my daughter's got lost.
Burchill said when you put in the tracking information now, there is no status update.
"It's just nowhere right now," Burchill explained. "I'm hoping one day she'll wake up and it will be outside her door."
Stacy Schaeffer of Holliston, Massachusetts, is in the same situation, tracking missing Christmas gifts she mailed to relatives in Pennsylvania on Dec. 10.
"I get text updates and email updates every single day," Schaeffer said. "It's very disappointing every time I go on, every morning and see it has not moved."
"Despite the impacts COVID has had on our staffing and the historic record holiday volumes, we continue to flex our resources and move people and assets to where the mail is," USPS Spokesman Steve Doherty told NBC10 Boston Responds. "We expect to be back to normal delivery schedules in the coming weeks. We thank our customers for their patience and our employees for the monumental effort they've put forward through this difficult time."
So, how much added volume did the pandemic holiday season account for in 2020?
More on the USPS
"I have 33 years in, a lot of it on the workroom floor. I pass through the plant daily and I have never seen anything like it," said Scott Hoffman, General President of Boston Local 100 of the American Postal Workers Union.
"This pandemic causes volumes and levels that nobody is currently equipped to handle," Hoffman said.
He explained that the Boston District has worked through the holiday backlog and is back on track. But, Hoffman said there are still some areas across the country working through the backlog which is impacting the network.
"We value our jobs, we take them seriously," Hoffman said. "If everybody knew the true circumstances of what we were dealing with we'd be getting a lot of thank you's versus complaints."
If you're wondering whether your package will ever surface again, you can call the USPS Customer Service Center at 800-275-8777. They can more precisely track your package to determine if it is delayed or lost.
