Holiday Mail Delivery Delayed

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Thin envelope paper getting caught and torn in sorting machines
Posted: 9:07 PM Jan 4, 2009
Last Updated: 11:23 PM Jan 4, 2009
Reporter: Mike McKnight
Email Address: sixonline@wowt.com

18 comments

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Days into the new year and people are still receiving holiday mail. That's because some envelopes are literally getting caught in the system.

Kevin Burke received a friend's Christmas card neatly wrapped in a Postal Service plastic bag. "Damaged by mechanical equipment, please accept our apology, U.S. Postal Service. I think it's just something that happens during the Christmas event, but it's kind of funny."

Omaha Postal Service spokesman Roger Humphries says more cards were opened at the post office by sorting machines during this holiday season. “This card is obviously thicker than the envelope and it's actually pushing and it actually comes out."

Some types of envelope paper just tear easily. "They're so paper thin, almost like tissue paper in some cases, that as the cards fly through our automated system, they're actually falling apart and getting torn,” says Humphries.

The Postal Service isn't just seeing problems with envelopes on greeting cards, but also photographs. Many people write "do not bend" on an envelope and think that's enough, but if there's not support inside, when it goes through the sorting machines, it will bend.

“It actually has cardboard in it, so just anything that is nice and strong keeps it from bending,” says Humphries. That cardboard support could save an engagement or graduation photo from suffering the bends.

Even into the new year, the Postal Service is trying its best to deliver everyone's holiday mail, sometimes piece by piece. “We do care, we do, and we want to get these to them," says Humphries.

The Postal Service is communicating with envelope manufacturers about the types of paper that are getting caught in sorting machines. Hopefully by next holiday season, fewer cards will be opened before they get to your mailbox.

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Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of this station.

Posted by: dave on Jan 12, 2009 at 05:15 PM
roger humphries is a liar, I work at the postal service and with the way they insist on pushing the mail through the machines, he has no idea what is going on, but he gets good face time on tv

Posted by: Anonymous on Jan 9, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Wow, so many complaints. I used to be that way as well "how hard can it be, all they do is deliver mail. I would use their competitor if they had one, etc." Well, that brand new house you just had built in the brand new subdivision doesn't even show up the competitors database as a valid address, and if it is considered too rural, even though it has a competitors shipping information, it may be delivered by the P.O. To the person that was puzzled by the mail carrier in regular clothes. There are two main types of mail carriers, 1) City Carriers - uniforms, 2) Rural Carriers - no uniforms, may be required to deliver mail from their own vehicle. To the person that mentioned time of delivery, there are so many factors to that, the volume of mail on a given day, @ what time the mail is delivered from the distribution center, volume of packages, accidents/ or construction on the road, school zones, the speed at which a carrier is able to sort mail for 600 to 850 addresses.

Posted by: Viewer on Jan 7, 2009 at 12:47 PM
Taking into account the shear volume of mail the USPS gets each day (more during holiday season). Mistakes do happen, either mechanically or manually. With postage rates going up, people's expectation naturally go up as well. It's pretty much near impossible to deliver all the mail on time and error free.

Posted by: Anonymous on Jan 6, 2009 at 12:51 PM
I've never quite understood how the PO creates their routes either. If I lived two blocks to the south I'd have my mail by 11:00 a.m. If I lived on the street to the east of my house (which is on a corner), I'd have my mail by noon. When does my mail come? Usually sometime around 5:00. How many mail trucks drive by my house before then? On most days, four or five. Not a judicious use of gas/diesel/whatever they use, if you ask me. I have no wonderment as to why the price of stamps/packages rises every year. All I have to do is look out my window. Don, I have had the same thing happen -- they held our "junk" mail but delivered all our bills. Now we have a friend pick up our mail every day when we're gone. It's a lot safer. On the other hand, I deal with the PO daily for work and the people there have been nothing but pleasant and helpful. The only area which consistently loses the mail I send out is the VA/MD/DC area. I don't know what they're doing out there, but I hate sending it twice

Posted by: REB on Jan 6, 2009 at 12:03 AM
I am a postal employee and most of my co workers and I do care about getting the mail out to the right address in a timely manner. The postal service is a bargain for shipping packages campared to the competitors.when a person considers that billions of pieces of mail get processed every day there is a very small percentage of mail that gets damaged. the postal service has an extremely large fleet of vehicles and delivery network to manage. it would be virtually impossible for a private company to finance and manage a service comparable to what the usps offers at the same price.

Posted by: CAS on Jan 5, 2009 at 07:48 PM
I once got a thank you card in the mail several months after it was sent. It ended up in someone's magazine in another state. The person forwarded it to me with a little note about how they found it when thumbing through the magazine months later. The point is not all mail problems are a result of the postal service. Remember as we sit in our nice warm offices on cold winter days, they're out walking the sidewalks (yet to be shoveled) to deliver our mail. The postal service deserves more appreciation than they get.

Posted by: CDG on Jan 5, 2009 at 05:58 PM
To the person complaining about the time the mail comes.....it comes ONCE a day. Does the milkman still deliver milk to your house? This is not 1947. Does Jimmy the bag boy still deliver groceries to your house?

Posted by: LLR on Jan 5, 2009 at 02:28 PM
Mistakes might happen, but the following have happened to us in the past 5 years: 1)Checks ordered from the bank delivered to the wrong address, one block over (we're talking 4 boxes of BLANK CHECKS, PEOPLE). 2)One of our credit cards being cut off because P.O. was consistently delivering a "please respond" survey to wrong address. 3)MSO on new vehicle purchase APPARENTLY delivered to wrong address; we received it EIGHT MONTHS after we bought the vehicle, marked "Return to Sender/Incorrect Address" (the ADDRESS was correct, the moron delivered it to the wrong house). 4)NUMEROUS occasions of wrong mail in wrong box, nothing nearly as important as above, and we are talking all over the subdivision. Last week the "mailman" showed up at our door; the kid didn't look a day older than 17 and was NOT dressed in a postal uniform (flannel shirt & jeans). But he had our mail & was driving the truck. People, apparently there IS always work down at the Post Office. We should all boycott USPS.

Posted by: Paul on Jan 5, 2009 at 02:22 PM
I'm a rural carrier in South Carolina. Most coworkers care but many mistakes are by coworkers who do not care. I have some mailboxes which I completely close and when I get 20 feet down the road, the lid pops open and many are brand new mailboxes. I have some customers who leave their mail in the mailbox for several days until I can't put anymore mail in. Please, customers get your mail out every day. I have 730 mailboxes I deliver to each day which leaves me seconds per mailbox. Any help from my customers would be appreciated.

Posted by: Anonymous on Jan 5, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Don and all of you complaining, mistakes happen, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be able to manage the load that the USPS handles during the holidays.

Posted by: Biff on Jan 5, 2009 at 11:25 AM
I agree with Don - the USPS shouldn't be the only service that delivers mail because they are totally incompetent. I have to call them at least every six weeks, if not more frequently, because of the following: mailbox not being closed after delivering mail (and the box is fine, btw), cramming mail in the box to the point where it's difficult to get out, bending mail (even those items with the above-mentioned cardboard), and giving us our neighbor's mail. If I screwed up that much at my job, I'd be fired. Unlike Don, however, I do get sympathetic noises when I talk to a supervisor, but things don't change for very long.

Posted by: Don on Jan 5, 2009 at 07:22 AM
I went on vacation over Christmas and had my mail held. Upon return, my mail was NOT held. A half a dozen pieces were in the box for a week-lucky nothing was taken. I would go with the post office's competitor if they had one. I talked to the branch supervisor-I thought there was more mail that was being held. She wasn't very sympathetic. But now I know where my mail went-it got all chewed up.

Posted by: Anonymous on Jan 5, 2009 at 06:02 AM
I received a check mailed to me on the 17th of December on the 29th. It was mailed from an address in Omaha to my house in Omaha. Also, I received a phone bill in December 12 days later than I normally receive it, only 2 days before it was due. I've noticed that my mail doesn't come at roughly the same time every day like it had for 20 years, but now comes at any time in a 4 hour time frame. Clearly, the post office is having more problems lately, not just with their sorting machines.

Posted by: Bill on Jan 5, 2009 at 05:02 AM
The postal rates go up and the level of service goes down!

Posted by: Tony on Jan 5, 2009 at 01:38 AM
It's all good they apologized, but let that card been 1 cent short of a stamp it would of been sent right back to the sender. My point you got to give a little get a little jmo

Posted by: Bent on Jan 4, 2009 at 10:28 PM
When I wrote "Do Not Bend" I always assumed they took it out and hand-stamped the postmark. I guess I will be emailing photos, from now on.

Posted by: Anonymous on Jan 4, 2009 at 09:22 PM
Is it any wonder why more and more of us are using the internet as our primary form of communication?

Posted by: Anonymous on Jan 4, 2009 at 09:16 PM
I don't mind getting late holiday mail, it's understandable how much goes through the system that time of year. At least they apologize.