POST RAMPS UP FOR HOLIDAYS: New Sorters, More Staff

The U.S. Postal Service announced aggressive hiring of seasonal personnel and the installation of high-speed package processing equipment.

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Postal Service announced aggressive hiring of seasonal personnel and the installation of high-speed package processing equipment.

Since April, the Postal Service has installed 84 of 112 new package sorting machines, reflecting the Delivering for America plan’s $40 billion of planned investment over ten years. Additionally, more than 50 package systems capable of sorting large packages are expected to be deployed prior to December. The new machinery gives the Postal Service the capacity to process an additional 4.5 million packages each day.

This past week, new processing sorting machines were installed in: NW Arkansas, Austin (TX), Cleveland (OH) and Des Moines (IA). Additional machine installations have recently occurred in: Lancaster (PA), Oklahoma City (OK), San Antonio (TX), Minneapolis (MN), Grand Rapids (MI), Shreveport (LA), Sacramento (CA), Atlanta (GA), North Bay (CA), Philadelphia (PA), Scranton (PA), Seminole (FL), Las Vegas (NV), Cincinnati (OH), Richmond (VA), Dallas (TX), Little Rock (AR), Pittsburgh (PA), Syracuse (NY), Ybor City (FL), Kansas City (MO), Harrisburg (PA), and Santa Barbara (CA).

The Postal Service’s preparations for the anticipated higher delivery demands of the 2021 holiday peak season continue. Ongoing efforts have included a national drive to hire delivery and plant personnel that is expected to result in an additional 40,000 seasonal hires by year-end; the leasing of 7.5 million square feet of additional space across more than 40 annexes with multiyear leases to address space constraints due to year-round parcel growth; the leasing of approximately 70 peak season annexes with short term leases to prepare for holiday volume increases; and the installation of new processing equipment to accommodate higher volumes reflecting customers’ delivery needs.