News Photo by Crystal Nelson Alpena Township Treasurer Laura Ellery-Somers drops mail off on Wednesday at the post box behind the Alpena post office.

ALPENA — Many Northeast Michigan residents are still waiting longer than normal to receive mail from the U.S. Postal Service.

Some of those Northeast Michiganders are just now receiving packages sent before the holiday season, traditionally when volumes for the Postal Service peak, while others have experienced delays receiving monthly bills, important documents, or medications.

Alpena residents Amanda Cordes and Sue Zbytowski said in a Facebook post they have both experienced delays with their mail.

Cordes said she received a package on Friday that she expected on Dec. 22. Zbytowski said she received a bill from Dec. 23 on Friday.

“The worst part was it was from Michigan,” Zbytowski said.

Delays in the mail aren’t exclusive to Northeast Michigan. News organizations have reported delays nationwide.

A banner across the top of the Postal Service’s website states the agency is “experiencing unprecedented volume increases and limited employee availability due to the impacts of COVID-19.”

Sabrina Todd, spokeswoman for the Postal Service’s Greater Michigan District, said the postal service is not granting interviews at this time.

Todd instead released a statement noting the 2020 holiday season was a record year for the Postal Service, with more than a billion packages delivered. Shippers were challenged with airlifts and trucking capacity for moving historic volumes of mail, which caused temporary pockets of delays, the statement said.

“As is our duty, we accepted all volumes and our employees rose to the occasion to deliver for America,” the statement said. “The epic volume was also amplified by employee availability challenges and necessary COVID-19 policies designed to keep our employees and our communities safe.”

Mike Mize, president of the Michigan Postal Workers Union in Flint, said the delays are caused by a combination of staff reductions made over the course of the last decade and impacts of the pandemic.

On a normal day, with normal staffing, the Postal Service has just the number of employees needed to get the work done, Mize said. If someone is ill or on vacation, employees have to work overtime to get that done.

When the pandemic hit, Mize said, employees were either out sick or asked to quarantine. The Postal Service also saw a surge in package volume, which began in March, meaning employees have been dealing with “peak season volumes” for the last nine months.

“It kind of creates an impossible situation,” he said. “It’s impossible for people to work enough hours to get it done, get it out.”

Mize said employees are very dedicated, and, in some cases, have worked up to 90 hours a week to make sure the mail gets out.

Mize said he does not know of any delays specific to Northeast Michigan, but backlogs at sorting facilities would impact the flow of mail to other locations.

Although many Northeast Michigan residents’ mail has been late, others have not experienced those delays.

Alpena residents Tori Gentry and David Hall said they have not experienced any major delays with the mail. Gentry said she deals with the mail on a daily basis as part of her job.

Hall said he shipped his Christmas presents via priority mail and they arrived in time for Christmas. A few things he shipped last-minute didn’t make it on time, but Hall said that wasn’t unexpected.

Hall said he hasn’t experienced any delays receiving mail.

“My bills haven’t been late,” he said. “They still make it on time.”