Tight labor market puts the squeeze on local mail delivery
August 20, 2023 | By Lisa ScagliottiThe state Department of Labor last week released data showing Vermont with an overall unemployment rate of 1.8% for July.
When deliveries are irregular, it’s best to drop outgoing mail into a USPS mailbox rather than leaving in a residential mailbox awaiting pickup. File photo
The U.S. Postal Service is one employer that knows the impacts of the tight labor market all too well.
For the past several weeks, Front Porch Forum, social media, and the email inbox here at Waterbury Roundabout have been popping with messages from local residents frustrated about their mail delivery – or lack thereof.
Postal workers and spokespeople say they understand but they are doing the best they can with far fewer people than they need to run mail operations in Vermont smoothly. Illness, vacations and vacancies leave few carriers to make deliveries.
“We have no subs,” one worker at the counter at the North Main Street post office said this week.
Steve Doherty, a postal service spokesman in Boston for the Northeast region, confirmed this. “We have been aggressively recruiting to fill vacancies across the state,” he said in an email to Waterbury Roundabout. “There are currently 80 positions statewide listed at usps.com/careers but this number changes frequently as new positions are added. These postings include positions for carriers, clerks, mail handlers and custodians.”
Oftentimes, the post office could shift staff around to help cover temporary absences. But with the system short-handed overall, there are few workers to spare to move to different communities, Doherty explained.
“Typically, because of the incredible flexibility and dedication of our workforce, we can move personnel from a neighboring community to cover short-term vacancies, but the summer vacation season tends to strain that flexibility,” he said. “We appreciate our customers’ patience as we navigate this period and strive to fill our rolls and provide the kind of first-class service our Vermont customers have come to expect and deserve.”
While job applications are open 24/7 online, Doherty said the USPS will host a mini-job fair Aug. 29-30 in Burlington where applicants can meet in person with hiring personnel who can answer questions and help new recruits through the process. The hiring event will be held at the Burlington Processing and Distribution Facility at 8 New England Drive in Essex Junction. Career counselors will be there from 8 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Aug. 29, and noon to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30, Doherty said.
In the meantime, local and regional postal staffers ask the public for patience and offer some tips to customers:
If you haven’t had mail delivery, you can pick up mail at the post office. However, it’s good to call first to avoid arriving and finding out that mail is out for delivery.
Have i.d. handy to pick up mail. Because of that requirement, you cannot retrieve mail for a neighbor.
If you have something important to mail, do not leave it in your home mailbox where it may sit for several days. Bring it to a post office or a USPS mailbox. “Mail collection boxes are picked up daily but outgoing mail from your personal mailbox may only be collected on days you’re receiving mail delivery,” Doherty said.
Local numbers for Waterbury post offices are 802-244-7318 for the North Main Street office and 802-244-6381 for Waterbury Center.