A Maryville USPS worker WVLT News spoke with, who chose to stay anonymous, said COVID-19 and people quitting have caused staffing shortages. The employee said many of the employees work 70-80 hour work weeks trying to finish all the routes. Long hours and short staffing have caused some to leave.
Maryville USPS customer, Rebecca Redding, said “we came down to the post office and they said someone had quit.”
The worker we spoke with said workers continues to walk out on the job.
The U.S. Postal Service did send WVLT a statement stating:
“The Postal Service plays an important role in the community and we are committed to providing the best service possible. We apologize for any inconvenience that may have been experienced by customers living in the Maryville, TN, area. Local management has been made aware and is taking steps to address the concerns. USPS is currently hiring Rural Carriers for the Maryville Post Office and surrounding areas. Applicants can go to www.usps.com/careers and search under Tennessee.
We appreciate the patience of our customers and the efforts of employees as conditions change on a day-to-day basis. While we do not share personnel information publicly, we can confirm that our workforce, like others, is not immune to the human impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Ongoing industrywide delays in ground and air transportation network and recent winter storms across Tennessee have also created challenges for the Postal Service.
We will continue flexing our available resources to match the workload and we are proud of the efforts of postal employees across Tennessee, and the nation, as they define essential public service every day. We urge any customers with concerns or questions about their mail delivery service to contact their local Postal Office, so that we can look into and resolve their concerns promptly. Customers may also visit our website at www.usps.com/help.”