Is It Just Me Or Is The Mail Slow?

How does the postal saying go?

The words "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" have long been associated with the American postal worker. (Wikipedia)

Fun fact, that's not an official creed or motto but more informal. See also Wikipedia.

But even prior to all this absentee ballot and mail-in ballot talk, it seemed like it was taking the mail a lot longer to get to its destination.

Mind you I said mail because Amazon Prime and UPS have been relatively "quicker than now" but that's a horse of a different color.

It just feels like normal mail has been taking longer to get to us.

Could it be true?

Yup. And I'm not the only one to notice.

Delivery of the mail began to slow in July, with the start of new policies that the Postal Service said was about efficiency. Since then, delays in first-class mail — like letters and postcards — have remained significantly more common than they were even in the first months of the pandemic. (New York Times)

So what's the holdup? Believe it or not some policy changes that start with trucks leaving on time versus trucks leaving when they are full.

The recent national slowdown dates to early July, around the time that postal workers were ordered to change the longstanding practice of holding trucks at sorting facilities until all of that morning’s mail was on board. Beginning in July, trucks were ordered to depart on time, potentially leaving some mail behind. Postal workers, former postal officials and private companies that track the mail all pointed to that policy as having a significant and almost immediate impact on the timeliness of mail delivery.(New York Times)

So it's not the pandemic but the policies that have been put in place that has slowed down the mail. Throw in an election that going to depend heavily on mail-in ballots AND holiday mail (like letters, postcards, Christmas cards, and packages), we're headed for a long letterless winter.

Honestly, I noticed this when I moved at the end of July to my new place and I thought it was because of that. But this slowdown is happening everywhere to everyone.

I have noticed the bills do still seem to get where they need to be, when they need to be.

Funny how that works huh?