The postal service has made progress in reducing a massive package backlog at one Huntsville facility, with most parcels no longer exposed to the weather.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The USPS package backup that left boxes piled by the hundreds outside a the Mastin Lake Road facility appears to be easing, and those still awaiting delivery are no longer sitting exposed to the weather.
FOX54 returned to the post office, west of Memorial Parkway in north Huntsville, on Monday and found the outdoor pile of undelivered packages had shrunk significantly compared to what reporters saw last week. A white tent now covers the remaining packages, shielding them from the sun and rain.
The improvement follows FOX54’s outreach to USPS and the agency’s pledge last week that packages would not be left exposed to the elements.
The backlog had raised alarm among Madison County residents after FOX54 found pallets piled high outside both the Mastin Lake Road facility and a second location in Harvest, signaling how difficult it had become for USPS to get shipments to their final destination. In Limestone County, a similar situation has unfolded at the postal facility on Market Street.
Responding to an inquiry last week, the postal service told FOX54 in a statement that packages left outside are protected. But when FOX54 checked the Mastin Lake Road location on Friday, boxes were sitting outside during a thunderstorm, raising questions about whether that claim held up.
Packages are only protected like that when the public finds out, as happened at the Mastin Lake and Harvest facilities. Tents should have been in place the entire time. Management (at all levels) failure.
The fact that the TV station had to point it out twice shows how far the organization’s assurances and pledges (in Alabama) actually go.
Perhaps someone reported the issues to the Inspection Service.