Expand / Amazon boxes sit at a United States Postal Service center in Fairfax, Virginia, on Tuesday, May 19, 2020.
Getty Images|Bloomberg
Amazon’s delivery plans are causing headaches for mail carriers in Minnesota and leading to delays in delivering other mail, according to reports and complaints from a United States senator. Postal workers are claiming that Amazon packages are being prioritized over non-Amazon mail.
Similar complaints have been made elsewhere, but reports suggest that the issues are particularly severe in Bemidji, Minnesota, where carriers recently held morning protests before their shifts began. A Bemidji Pioneer article on November 15 stated that “rural mail carriers stood outside of the Bemidji Post Office before dawn Monday and Tuesday carrying signs and protesting what they refer to as unsustainable working conditions and the prioritization of Amazon shipments over real mail.”
The United States Postal Service has been delivering Amazon packages for years, but local implementation of a new contract with Amazon at the start of November appears to have sparked this month’s protest.
The Bemidji Pioneer quoted longtime mail carrier Dennis Nelson as saying, “We’re being forced to work 12-hour days, 6 days a week. All of our days off have been canceled by the district manager. They’ve even gone so far as to say they won’t honor approved leave. We’ve been told Amazon is now our priority, that Amazon packages are the most important thing we do, the mail is secondary.”
Nelson said the Amazon rush has prevented timely delivery of other mail. “Mail isn’t being delivered on many routes because we’re spending 12 hours a day just delivering Amazon packages,” he was quoted as saying. “If you were to look [in the post office] Now, there’s probably 5 or 6 routes where mail wasn’t delivered yesterday because the packages had to go out.”
When contacted by Ars today, a USPS representative denied that the agency prioritizes Amazon packages. “We do not prioritize Amazon packages. We deliver packages and mail in an integrated network,” the representative wrote in an email.
United States senator blames postmaster general
United States Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) sent out a letter about the mail issues to United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on November 22. Smith’s letter stated the “situation is particularly acute in Bemidji today,” but that it affects multiple parts of Minnesota.
“I write regarding reports across Minnesota that the Postal Service’s service arrangement with Amazon is impeding prompt deliveries and stretching the agency’s already-overburdened employees too thin,” Smith wrote“As Postmaster General, you are responsible for ensuring that the Postal Service meets its service standards, and it is clear today that things are not working as they should. Entering into contracts that your system cannot support is a breach of your duties.”
A Washington Post article today described “mayhem” at the Bemidji post office.
