DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — Residents throughout Dauphin County are dealing with what they say is disruptive mail service.
Some say they're going days, and sometimes even weeks, without getting a single delivery.
“We don’t get any mail here, it will take days before we get mail and then we’ll get other people’s mail, not even our own,” said Donna Lentini of Lower Paxton Township.
Lentini and her husband, Vito, say there’s been continuous disruptions to their mail service throughout the last year, and they’re not alone.
“I’m trying to figure out what happened to our mail system," says Charles Bass of Susquehanna Township. "How did it get that way? Why is it that way? When is it going to get better?”
Bass claims mail isn’t coming at a normal time -- and sometimes doesn’t come at all.
“And then when it came, it would be a whole bunch of mail that shows me it’s from two or three days [ago],” he says.
Bass says delivery has gotten a little more consistent over the past week, but he still wants to know what’s going on.
“Anybody out there, what’s the best approach to try to get our mail service better?" he asks. "I’m sure it won’t only help me but anybody else that’s having trouble with the mail."
Residents say they’ve tried to get answers from the Postal Service, but aren’t having much luck.
“I talked to the Postmaster General’s secretary a year and a half ago, still haven’t had anything resolved,” said Lentini.
“I tried to call but obviously no one really answers the phone with that,” added Bass.
FOX43 reached out to the U.S. Postal Service to ask what’s causing the disruptions.
A USPS representative tells us there are staffing shortages throughout the Harrisburg region, due to unforeseen circumstances.
The Postal Service also says it is taking several steps to continue service to these customers.
This includes authorizing employee overtime – expanding mail delivery days and times – using carriers from other local post offices and hiring more mail carriers.
You can read the full statement from the U.S. Postal Service below:
There are some employee availability issues due to unforeseen circumstances.
We have taken specific actions to continue service to our valued customers, which includes:
- Continuing to fully authorize overtime to allow employees to work the time necessary to deliver mail.
- Expanding mail deliveries to earlier in the morning, later in the evening, and on Sundays to ensure customers receive mail at the earliest date possible.
- Using additional carriers from nearby offices, when necessary, to maintain mail deliveries.
- Hiring additional personnel. We currently have openings for pre-career positions in Harrisburg and the surrounding area. These include city and rural letter carriers. Viewers can access these positions by visiting usps.com/careers and searching by state for open positions. New jobs are added to the site weekly.
We thank our customers for their understanding and continued support. We also appreciate the efforts of our dedicated employees who are working to deliver for our customers during the pandemic.
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