This is a news story by an Alabama TV station who did an anonymous interview with a postal worker in Birmingham, where USPS apparently has had serious delays for some time.
The most interesting part of it, for me, is the assertion that mail is sometimes put on any random truck that has room, regardless of where it’s headed, just to clear an overcrowded distribution center. That’s likely happening in other locales and could explain why some parcels are wildly, randomly given a tour of the nation and sometimes territories before reaching their destination, usually late.
That is kind of what happens when there is a disruption cause by weather events. If the destination is having an issue, then packages to that destination could be sent to a related destination to handle or simple pass on if the original destination has regrouped. USPS distribution centers can not warehouse and hold much of anything that is in coming. Doing so creates chaos.
April 2025 change by USPS has effected distribution routes again. And there is another change by USPS in July 2025 which USPS says is suppose to improve delivery times and/or make them more consistent (believe this when we see it).
After reading the article, we think that there is a management problem, moral problem and most likely a employee turn over problem at this distribution center. Those core issues would create several off shoot issues (like theft and slow down on work production).
Though originally from the South-if one considers coastal TX as south rather than SW-southern USPS hubs are some of the worst! Memphis, Atlanta, parts of Florida or AL. May be a morale problem/union problem/ health problems of aging employees. In our own hub in Tucson, someone, even counter employees, always throwing out or having surgery on back,legs/shoulders-people are off for months. It’s a physically taxing job, especially if not hiring younger folks. I read recently young guys don’t want to be a postman-not enough status for women looking for love on dating sites!!
For years, had an AL customer who bought multiple books at a time-he admitted their mail delivery was awful. One reason he bought numerous titles at a time-and requested sig. con each time. If financially viable, we send these areas via GA or PM, just to hurry them the system a bit.
While I haven’t had anything tour the nation recently, I mailed a package from the Northeast to GA, and it took 3 days to get to a distribution center further north in my state, then it took another 3 days to go west to another distribution center in my state. So, 7 days to get 30 miles north of me, when it should be going south to GA. Great job, USPS!
After I moved out of Alabama (20ish years ago), they started sending all of my not-small hometown’s mail–including local mail–60 miles away to Birmingham to be sorted. We noticed a significant slow down in delivery at that time because of course! It took a minimum of 24 hours to get turned back around, and usually about 3 days.
Now I don’t know if that terrible idea is still in place, but I suspect Birmingham USPS is operating short-staffed and overburdened in already impossible conditions.
There was a time when we sent a card to a neighbor and the post office would hand stamp it and put it in the neighbor’s PO box. Took about 3 minutes.
Then that same card started going to Lubbock (27 miles) and back the next day to be delivered.
Now that same card goes to Lubbock (27 miles), next day to Amarillo (95 miles from Lubbock - 2nd day), the following day back to Lubbock (95 miles back - 3rd day) and then back to our town (27 miles back - 4th day).
Right now there is no rhyme or reason in USPS routing. Two packages to the same destination sent on the same day from the same location will quiet often take different routes and have different delivery times.
