I live on the east coast of the US and for my area the post office is not in chaos. Our postal workers have been business as usual with no weird delays. None of our route carriers are out sick and we even get mail delivered on Saturdays which most of the country does not. Our local post office hires extra people every single December that do nothing but deliver packages and my mail carrier delivers the regular mail. I get postcards from all over the world at a decent rate except cards coming from China/Hong Kong and Taiwan. Those are taking months to arrive to me.
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I feel a little guilty when I look at the travel times of my Hong Kong and Taiwanese cardsâtheyâve been super speedy since I live on the West Coast. 
Two weeks and voilĂĄ, theyâre here! (I know, I knowâŚIâll take my proximity privilege elsewhere.) Cards from mainland China take 1-2 months very consistently for me, which I donât mind at all.
I imagine that cards traveling between Europe and the East Coast of the US are extra speedy as wellâhas this been your experience?
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Post to New York (the state, not just the city) was very speedy, a friend of mine used to receive mail from me in just 4 days. But these days are long past, they were over long before corona.
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Yes pretty quick from Europe especially The Netherlands! But out of the blue I got a card from Macau in 8 days and Tahiti in 10 days! Lithuania is also quick, Czech Republic and Belarus though 46 days and up. Russia which used to be super slow has gotten here in 7 days. I also get them in batches which is crazy⌠all Europe or all from Russia ect. We are originally from California and all our relatives live there, the speed of things is up and down. We got all our Christmas presents and cards on time from family and nothing ran late. Like I said our local post office has not slowed down or missed a beat. Seems to be different for everybody!
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so trueâŚpatience is the key. The burden is mostly due to packages not mail itself. I have sent hundreds of postcards and greeting cards the last few weeks, and I have friends that decided not to. I know some of those cards will not arrive until Jan-Feb-March etc, but I sent them anyway. They will be enjoyed whenever they are received.
In my little office, we are still getting packages like we did before ChristmasâŚit is really up to the people at the sorting facilities to work enough hours that they do the daily work plus eliminate a few trailers every night that have been sitting there. Sadly they do not rotate the work, as in first in, first outâŚwhatever wasnât gotten to before just sits until they have time to do it. I had an express on Saturday that was 2 days lateâŚso no longer an express. Sadly I have seen others post about expresses that are even later. I think the glut of packages should be addressed this month. Already our sick carriers will be back in the office this week (I canât believe the 2 weeks flew by so fast! 2 of them were there on Saturday)
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Thank you so, so much for your hard work this holiday season and always. I know it is disappointing to customers when mail or packages arrive later than expected, but youâre rightâthey will bring joy no matter what. 
I have a December birthday, so a few birthday presents turned into âBirthmasâ presents this year, and a few Christmas presents will become New Yearâs presentsâand thatâs all fine by me (extended holidays never go unappreciated)! Postal carriers all over have been under and enormous amount of extra stress and fatigue this year, and Iâm sure that offices that havenât felt direct impacts are also having to answer for the delays of others. Iâm sure delays are frustrating for everyone, but mail doesnât travel by the power of magicâwe need people to help it along, and those people need to be healthy!
On behalf of a lot of people, hereâs a big virtual hug to you for keeping up the good work. 
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I feel the same way when I draw a China address. Ever since the Mail restrictions started when the Covid begin, it seems the China postal system is overwhelmed and backed up for months. Really sucks.
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The post office themselves has been deliberately mucking things up as a way to get more financial help from the government. I have several relatives in higher positions who have been discussing this for months. However, mail volume is high and many districts close sorting centers for a handful of positive covid cases even when no one is showing symptoms, which results in more delays. Many facilities have trailers full of mail sitting. Packages are taking precedence over letters and postcards. This should work itself out after Christmas, although online ordering will remain higher than in the past and isnât expected to drop. None of the cards I have mailed in December have arrived at their destination yet, but December is always the slowest month I have experienced over the years. Expired cards are up anyway for me this year. So many cards that I have mailed to places like China, Russia, Belarus, Indonesia, etc simply disappeared. Itâs very frustrating.
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Asymptomatic spread of the virus is probable, even it it seems like overreacting, I appreciate that they close sorting centers out of a measure of precaution for employees.
That doesnât solve the issues that mostly started after cost cutting measures were introduced by the newly appointed postmaster general.
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If I may askâŚhow do you (and your relatives) know this? How would this help them achieve the goal of securing a larger budget?
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I agree. At one time I had 50 expired cards and many aged off as they were sent before covid really started up. I slowed down on sending officials. My cards in the forums have a higher rate of success at least.
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Donât forget that usually this time of the year, the USPS hires many temporary workers to help out with the extra Christmas mail. They donât have the training or experience permanent employees have. Right now, many people are on vacation as well. And from what I heard, not sure if it is true, many people have been out with COVID. Plus, our Postmaster General has been accused of undermining the system.
I want to hug those who are working at the USPS. I hope the situation can get better after the holidays.
My parents wanted to send me a box to me in Japan, and I said not right now as I saw massive delays. I sent my mom (who lives on the East Coast) a card on December 5 and she hasnât gotten it yet. (Though, my West Coast relatives got my card in two weeks. I got a card from an aunt in CA and it took 9 days). This could be like in May and June where it took two months to get any cards from me.
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Have you heard of Informed Delivery in the US? I just signed up.
It is a service with the USPS and it is free. It scans your mail and packages and you have a digital record of what the post office has received and would SHOULD come.
I thought it was great until I saw that today the mail carrier lost a postcard! The postcard showed up yesterday in my digital mailbox in Informed Delivery, with 2 other postcards, but it did not get delivered! So the problem happened with the carrier since it was scanned in at the post office.
I submitted a complaint that it didnât arrive. Letâs see if they find it.
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You can check out a discussion about how to deal with that here:
Should I register a postcard I can see in informed delivery but was lost just prior to delivery?
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I have had a postcard in Informed Delivery that took a week or so from there to finally make it into my mailbox (without filing a complaint)! The ways of USPS are a mystery to me âŚ
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Yep! Iâve found itâs rarely completely accurate. Most often I get cards that werenât on the email, which is a fun surprise. But every now and then they show up late. A week was probably my latest, too.
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Postcards from Italy to the USA take more than 60 days usually. When they arrive within a month, itâs like a miracle
My mail to the USA takes 17 days on average. I literally can walk to the US in 2 minutes from my house. That seems insanely long to me.
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Often my overseas mail is quicker than within the US 
I blame it on the fact that international is air mail.
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