Staffing shortages are having a damaging domino effect, and residents worry that it will only get worse as the Christmas holiday approaches, they said.
Toby Nichols, an 11-year Vashon resident, said the way packages are being delivered is part of the problem. Everyday he makes the five-minute walk from his house down the driveway to his mailbox. He said a year ago, packages used to be delivered to his doorstep. Now the packages are left on top of the mailbox along a busy road, a quarter of a mile from his house.
Nichols said those deliveries are becoming more of a target.
“We had that one package that my wife ordered. We never saw the box. Somebody helped themselves to it,” Nichols said.
Nichols heard from neighbors who have dealt with package thefts too. He began documenting deliveries that didn’t look right to him.
“It is sort of a photo montage of what I call post office fails,” he said.
He has taken pictures of packages, some labeled fragile, left along the street or piled high.