Flood Of Packages At The US Post Office, Millions Of Christmas Gifts Will Come Too Late

Illustration (Unsplash / Ben White)

JAKARTA - The citizens of the United States must have a lot of patience in this year's Christmas celebration. This is because millions of their Christmas gifts may arrive late due to the booming number of shipments.

Parcel shipments are predicted to reach an unprecedented number. This is caused by a change in consumer behavior: online shopping. In this era of the internet alone, the market share of digital stores has disrupted conventional stores a lot, plus the current limited space for movement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have increasingly had no choice but to shop online.

"We are really busy. This is unbearable," complained Manny Huenchunir, a postal service truck driver who was unloading and loading packages at his office, Boston, USA, Tuesday night. Boston's main processing center said Huenchunir was overwhelmed.

"The warehouse is crowded," said Huenchunir, quoted by NPR. "Wall-to-wall boxes and trucks waiting to hit the wharf for three hours, waiting in line just to unload."

Meanwhile, Debbie Aspell, another postal worker felt the same way as Huenchunir. Aspell worked 11 hours a day six days a week, most of the month. "We've been bombed. It's crazy," he said.

Aspell itself becomes part of the packet wave flow. Aspell sent Christmas gifts to his own family including gifts sent to his son in Texas.

"I sent him by express, I kept track of him, and he is reportedly still in Boston," said Aspell. Her son is 36 years old, but Aspell says, "It doesn't matter how old the kids are, you still don't want to see them wake up Christmas morning without gifts."

Three weeks late

Aspell's colleague Elizabeth Pruitt feels the same way. He was worried that the Christmas tree he had decorated in such a way but still had no gifts under it.

Pruitt is not yet a venture, he already ordered gifts for his family in bulk in November. But when he saw the delivery receipt, he got the information that his goods would arrive three weeks late. When he tracked it down online, he got a message saying that there were a lot of packages piled up.

Pruitt had no further information so far. "Where it is, I don't know," he complained.

As the Save the Post Office notes, the postal service's on-time delivery rate for first class slumped to about 75 percent from 95 percent last season. The data was taken in early December.