SPOKANE, Wash. — Amidst the surge of online shopping this holiday season, thousands of packages are piling up in mailrooms across the region, with a depleting number of hands available to deliver them.
Zachary Steel is one of seven mail carriers at his Post Office branch, who spoke with us on the strain being felt by those in his field.
“We live in a society that buys everything online,” said Steel. “And we’re not ready for it; we don’t have the staff for it.”
At Steel’s branch, there are upwards of nine thousand packages towering within the mailroom. On an efficient day, one carrier can deliver 300 packages, while thousands more arrive at the post office the next day.
“It snowballs every day,” said Steel. “Like I said, we’ll have nine thousand packages in the office; maybe we’ll get two thousand out max in a day. Then, we’ll get another couple thousand coming in again and it’s just never ending.”
