Rene Jean, Business and Tourism Reporter
Renee@CowboyStateDaily.com
Amazon.com provided Cheyenne’s US Postal Service with a forecast for the number of packages arriving over the weekend, a company spokesperson told the Cowboy State Daily.
An influx of parcels, combined with USPS staff shortages, forced the closure of three post offices in Cheyenne.
A perception that Amazon dumped more than 13,000 packages on Cheyenne without warning is not true, the online retail giant says.
“As one of our third-party shipping partners, we are in regular contact with USPS to estimate the number of packages arriving at the Cheyenne Post Office over the weekend,” Amazon spokeswoman Alisa Carroll told Cowboy. said. State Daily with prepared statements.
“We rely on third-party delivery partners like USPS to help deliver packages to our customers and we are grateful that they were able to assist us during the recent snowstorm. ‘ she said.
Asked how many parcels were included in the forecast for the post office, Carroll said in a subsequent email, “It wasn’t an unusual amount of parcels, it was on par with what we had previously delivered to that PO.” rice field.
Carroll declined to comment for the record in response to a Cheyenne mail worker’s statement that Amazon will not be doing doorstep deliveries in Wyoming until May 1.
Long time
A Cheyenne postman told the Cowboy State Daily that he worked long hours after a mailman explained that Amazon parcels were shipped in very high volumes over the weekend during the holiday season.
According to Lisa Ansell, a nine-year postman, it took her and most others 13 hours a day to get through a ton of holiday packages.
“It was the norm for almost everyone,” she said.
To handle the workload, James Boxrud, the Wyoming media representative for the U.S. Postal Service, told the Cowboy State Daily that three branches were closed: FE Warren, the Capitol and the airport post office.
Boxrud said it’s not uncommon for packages to surge during the holidays, but postal workers told the Cowboy State Daily that the sheer volume of deliveries from Amazon will take up an already-short workforce. He said he was forced to make three closures on Tuesday, dragging on.
A postal worker estimated that Amazon shipments have 110 pallets, each with an average of 120 packages.
Neither Boxrud nor Carroll confirmed or denied on record how many parcels were shipped.
Shipping and dumping are common
The term many postal workers use for a surge in parcels is “ship and dump.”
The US Postal Service has several agreements to complete deliveries to companies such as UPS, FedEx, and Amazon.
Retired Worland postmaster Tim Outland gave the Cowboy State Daily an overview of how it worked when he was at work about a decade ago.
“They take the parcel[from]and say, simply, New York,” he explained. We will do the delivery.”
Meanwhile, mail sent from one Wyoming location to another Wyoming location goes to Cheyenne or Casper, whichever is closer, for sorting, Outland said. From there, go to the Wyoming location.
Mail from Wyoming is sent to Denver for sorting.
“As far as I know, it’s still mostly a system,” said World. “They have all the automated equipment in that her two locations.”
business back to normal
With staffing shortages continuing in Wyoming, it’s unclear if the Cheyenne post office will be closed again to handle the surge in packages from shippers, but business returned to normal at the Converse Post Office on Thursday. It looks like you’re back.
The line was only at lunch time, but there were some people who usually don’t line up.
One man told the Cowboy State Daily that this was the fifth time he had received an Amazon package routed through the postal system.
It required a special trip each time.
As for the local USPS staffing situation, Boxrud told the Cowboy State Daily that the Wyoming postal system has a lot of vacancies.There are 20 open positions in Cheyenne alone.
He encourages anyone interested in postal carriers to go online at USPS.com/careers and check out what’s available.
“These are great jobs that can quickly lead to career opportunities with ample benefits,” he said.
