WASHINGTON — After last year's holiday season was rife with postal service delays, D.C.'s new postmaster said they're making changes to avoid a repeat this year.
“This pandemic severely impacted the Postal Service," D.C. Postmaster Edward Williamson said. "But now we are back and we are alive, and we are ready to deliver the nation's packages.”
He said USPS has made multiple changes this season.
First, he said they set up more than 100 new hubs across the country to coordinate shipping.
Williamson said they're also running a new delivery schedule from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. to get parcels delivered sooner.
“With that, we could get a lot of the bulk of the parcels delivered early on," he said.
Williamson said they have also worked hard to hire more staff -- and are always hiring more. He said now they're back up to 100%.
“Fully staffed yes, so we came a long way. It was a struggle, but we bounced back," he said.
Williamson only took over as D.C. Postmaster about three months ago. However, he said he's worked for the postal service for 27 years, working his way up from a carrier.
Many Washingtonians reported serious mail delays over the last year, so Williamson is determined to raise the standard.
“It is a big responsibility. But... We want to bring that trust back to the United States Postal Service," he said.
Operation Santa is also in the homestretch.
USPS said letters should be postmarked by December 10 to make sure they get to Santa's Elves on time for gifts to be delivered.
Some other important dates to mark on the calendar for deliveries are as follows:
- Ground Service: December 15
- First Class Mail Service: December 17
- Priority Mail Service: December 18
- Priority Mail Express Service: December 23