Hm, we were told by our US rep that this is still causing the problems here.
Unless we still have a backlog going all the way back to August and earlier when that was in effect? Some people say they’ve not gotten any mail at all for months, so, maybe?
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My mail carrier said that people who want overtime are working 70+ hour weeks, and even people like her that don’t want overtime (she had a knee replacement last year) are being forced to take it.
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Backlogs in most metro areas haven’t caught up from springtime. The whole system is barely hanging on, really. And paying overtime doesn’t mean there are enough people to work in the first place 🤷🏻 even when they move staff from station to station for COVID absences- my brother is working all his days off to cover carriers in different areas, even across the state border. He hasn’t had a day off since summer - was supposed to get Thanksgiving day itself and ended up called for mandatory service.
@druidessie that’s how my brother’s metro area is too. And they’re just starting the holiday season!
Usually this level of overtime only happens from Halloween to Christmas in my bro’s area. It sucks. I’m tipping my carrier big this year and I usually don’t at all.
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The only thing I’ve wondered is how you make sure your specific carrier gets it, and not someone doing the route on their day off.
I signed up for alerts but since it’s not bouncing back and forth in the system, just marked “on route to next facility” I’ll give some more time to see if it emerges before checking with USPS (or asking the seller to do it for me?)
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I just wait until I see my carrier a couple houses down 
but it’s easy to do so on my street.
I know I’ve had packages where the receiver has to be the one to call; they won’t give further info to the sender - bit I can’t remember if that’s UPS or USPS or what type of tracking we did (my mom sent a box to my kid’s old address on accident)
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Oh, good point. I am usually home and frequently see her when she delivers the mail. One of her subs is also super nice.
They can accept gifts but not cash, right?
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I believe the federal rules are gift (no cash) of less than $20 for “each occasion” - my bro has gotten basically an advent calendar of visa gift cards lol
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Lol at the advent calendar. Maybe I’ll see if she wants one of my homemade things. I forgot to ask her about garlic, maybe some of my apple chips.
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Oooh that’s a good idea
Oooh, I should tip my mail carrier. Thanks for the reminder.
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Yes, thank you. We have like three or four people who come here and I really like the idea of making a bunch of little gifts for them for a few weeks.
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The seller doesn’t see anything different than you do on tracking.
If something does get marked “delivered” and you don’t have it, it’s worth asking your local USPS to provide the GPS coordinates where it was delivered. Which is helpful when it turns out it’s sitting on a porch a block away.
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My parents always gave our mail carrier a gift of money when I was a kid. At some point, they said they were not allowed to accept it anymore which was too bad as hard as they worked.
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Any recommendations for pretty, biodegradable wrapping paper? If not I’ll just wrap stuff in newspaper.
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I use flyers. They are colourful and free.
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I hear good things about using brown kraft paper. Can be made pretty by drawing on it or wrapping with reusable ribbons.
I kind of want to move to fabric wrapping soon, but I have several rolls of paper to get through first. Also figuring out the logistics of fabric wrapping. Maybe I buy discounted fabric after Christmas this year?
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In non-pandemic years, I buy a bunch of scarves and Pashminas at thrift stores for $.50 or less apiece.
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My mum makes fabric gift bags and hints strongly about getting them back.
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I outright tell my family that if they want gifts in the future they shall return the boxes/wrappings.
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In my family the gift boxes/gift bags are collected and reused. Husband’s family is all about the giant pile of torn up wrapping paper.
I even have some really cute santa doggie tissue paper that gets folded up and reused each year.
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