After a week of waiting for her grandchild's medication, Neri Small-Shulman had to beg a postal worker to dig through the gargantuan pile of packages in the back of the Montauk Post Office. Finally, a postal worker found her package. "They hunted and hunted, all for a little box," Ms. Small-Shulman, 73, said. "Give me a break!"
Ever since shelter-in-place orders took effect, post offices have been inundated with packages and mail at record-breaking volumes, and even as the economy has reopened, volume remains high.
According to a United States Postal Service spokesperson, compared to this week last year, Long Island post offices are experiencing a 64-percent increase in the number of packages and mail flooding in. In Montauk, the post office has seen package volume double since the start of summer.
"That's significant," Xavier Hernandez, the regional United States Postal Service spokesperson, said in an email. The influx of vacationers and short-term visitors caused the swell, he added. "With fewer traditional shopping venues easily available and the very serious nature of New York's shelter-in-place directives, more residents are shopping online," Mr. Hernandez wrote.
Residents of Montauk are growing agitated as post offices on the East End remain stuck in the weeds with packages. Consumers are left empty-handed and workers are completely wiped out.
"The East End has certainly taken a hit," Michelle Nadeau, the vice president of the Long Island Area American Postal Workers Union said by phone. Ms. Nadeau, who oversees 180 post offices from the tip of Long Island to the Queens border, says Montauk has historically had spikes during the summer seasons.
While workers are pleading for help, residents remain unnerved. "I just want my package," Jill Dachis, a Montauk resident, said. "They are telling me they have too many packages, that they can't take the time to look through them all."
Lauren Maldonado, 33, who was born and raised in Montauk, says that before the shutdown she had never seen the post office quite as busy as this. "This is nothing," Ms. Maldonado said as she left the post office on Monday carrying an armful of packages. "No one is explaining the rules here. I find that very concerning. It's been a nightmare to wait. Now, imagine me standing in the heat with my 2-year-old. We depend on our mail. I can't just wait until it gets delivered to my house."
The postal service offers free delivery service for packages, but with the limited number of delivery drivers, drop-offs have been delayed. In the hamlets of Amagansett and Montauk, there is no regular residential delivery, leaving people to rely on in-store service.
What customers might not realize, Ms. Nadeau says, is that "people swear that their package is there, but it's not. They don't understand that they get dropped off and come in very big bags. In those bags could be 10 to 60 packages. Even though it shows as arrived, those packages are not legitimately scheduled to be delivered until the next day."
The postal service is obliged to deliver every single day. "If they are unable to," Ms. Nadeau said, "the postal service has a responsibility to find additional resources to get it done."
Post offices in the area are experiencing significant employee availability issues, too, according to Mr. Hernandez. "Not only due to Covid and leave needed to support families, but also because it is prime vacation time coupled with increased package volumes."
Gerti Murphy, 82, a former Manhattan resident, is much more compassionate for the workers and less so for the online delivery services. "I feel bad for the team that has to deal with all these packages . . . and Amazon is making all this money."
Another light-spirited local, Marlene Maderer, 72, recently picked up a package that she waited two weeks for. "That's pretty good!" she said, "Considering before when I was waiting five weeks for a package."
"I don't think it's [the workers'] faults. They just need a better system," Ms. Maderer added. "The way it works right now, you feel less sure that you will get packages. It makes you question whether you should even order anything at all."
Mr. Hernandez urged residents in East Hampton and Montauk to use their proper and complete addressing when completing online orders.
"Anyone with a P.O. Box who is ordering items online should always include the P.O. Box number in the address. Even if using a street address, customers with a P.O. Box should include their assigned P.O. Box number," she wrote in an email. Packages may start out with FedEx or UPS, but can be transferred to the local post office for the final leg of their journey, making a box number especially important.
Package concerns can be shared by speaking with a postal employee at 1-800-ASK-USPS. When calling, customers should be ready to provide their delivery address and share any tracking information.
