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Citrus Heights residents experiencing slow mail due to the pandemic

People living in Citrus Heights have noticed a trend of mail arriving later than usual. The American Postal Workers Union says its because of a lack of resources.

CITRUS HEIGHTS, Calif. — The amount of mail being processed right now is up by 50 percent from what it normally is and it's more than what is processed during the Christmas season according to the American Postal Workers Sacramento Union.

“They cut back on overtime hours, they are taking the machines out and this is by the way of the new post master,” Union President Saintil Perry said.

Peaches St. Mary lives in Citrus Heights and usually gets her mail early and tracks her packages with an app on her phone, but lately, when she gets a notification that her mail has arrived, there is nothing in her box.

"Sometimes, it's a little difficult because there's things that we have to do," St. Mary said. Because of the slow postal service, she is not getting her paycheck on time.

Luanne Leineke said she dealt with the same problem as St. Mary in July and was late on paying bills, so she asked her mailman what was the hold up.

“He says he has to work so many extra hours just to get everything out and it’s pretty confusing sometimes at the office,” Leineke said.

Perry said the issue is not just happening in the Citrus Heights area, but nationwide.

According to him, the postal service is waiting on $25 billion in COVID-19 emergency relief funding to be passed to get postal service workers the help they need to get mail back into people’s boxes on time.

USPS Sacramento District and Sierra Coastal District oversee mail services in Citrus Heights. They said in a statement:

"The COVID-19 pandemic has led to heavy parcel volumes as customers continue to place online orders of essential items as they shelter in place. Our employees are working diligently to keep up with the increased volume. We are flexing our available resources to match the workload and appreciate the patience of our customers and the efforts of employees as conditions change on a day-to-day basis."

Perry is hopeful the postal service can get the funding before election season really kicks into gear and mail-in ballots get sent out in California.

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