BRYAN, TX — December is arguably the busiest time of year for the postal service and shipping companies across the united states, throw in a pandemic for the last nine months and those services are busier than ever before.
“This is something we haven’t seen before as far as an increase in packages. We generally expect a higher volume during this busy time of the year,” says Kanickewa “Nikki” Johnson, a Strategic Communications Specialist with USPS.
Tuesday, a federal advisory committee to the CDC met to vote on a distribution plan with hopes of getting it out by the end of the year utilizing the United States postal service and shipping companies.
In a statement from FedEx, the company says they are, “We are confident in our strong relationships with our healthcare distribution customers as we work through the preparation and prioritization of these deliveries,” and they are equipped to handle the vaccine shipments.
While USPS is still finalizing what vaccine distribution will look like for them, Johnson says their suggested mail-by dates will ensure their customer's packages will be delivered on time.
“I definitely and highly recommend paying attention to the suggested mail-by dates,” says Johnson.
With the higher demand for mail and shipping services due to the pandemic for much of 2020, Johnson says the postal service has put an emphasis on creating more jobs as demand continues to increase.
“Well it's definitely been different as far as the challenges with COVID, however, we’ve worked through that,” says Johnson. “We have put our emphasis on hiring and staffing and putting those efforts where they need to be as far as those additional resources.”
As mail and shipping services are already preparing to distribute the first COVID-19 vaccines, the CDC’s deadline for the official vaccine distribution plan is this Friday.
