READ THIS NEXT: USPS Warns All Americans Must Do This to Keep Their Mail Safe. The Postal Service strives to provide uninterrupted service to all—but that’s not always possible. Back in March, the agency suspended international mail services to Russia amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine. On the local front, there have also been at least three areas that have lost delivery services in the past few months due to attacks on mail carriers. In April, residents in Santa Monica received notice of a mail suspension due to “multiple carriers [having] been subjected to assaults and threats of assault” from one individual, according to the USPS. Then in May, residents in one Greenfield, Indiana, neighborhood were told the agency would not reinstate delivery service “until residents install curbside mailboxes,” after loose dogs had left one carrier so injured she needed 50 stitches. And just last month, pit bull attacks in Des Moines, Iowa, caused delivery to be suspended from a neighborhood. Now, the USPS has had to suspend its services in another part of the U.S. for a different problem entirely. The USPS just halted operations at its Processing and Distribution Center in St. Louis, Missouri, eSeller365 reported on July 27. According to the commerce news outlet, the agency released an industry alert late July 26 informing the public about this change. The alert states that all operations at this facility are “temporarily suspended due to flooding,” adding that this has gone into effect immediately.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Mail is being diverted to a parcel support annex in Hazelwood, Missouri, according to the alert. But as eSeller 365 explained, the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center services about 3.8 million people in the area, while the Hazelwood facility is much smaller—making the “operational loss” of this closure hard to make up. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. St. Louis and surrounding areas have been experiencing historic and widespread flash flooding that has already killed at least one person, according to CNN. The floods are the result of record-breaking rainfall in the region, with St. Louis alone experiencing more than 9 inches of rain falling between July 25 and 26—surpassing the former highest 24-hour rainfall record from 1915, per the National Weather Service (NWS). “Until USPS can resume operations and clear its backlog of mail stuck at surrounding locations, shipments to the area may experience delays. This could go on for days, maybe longer,” eSeller365 said. “It is unclear if the flooding caused damage to any mail.” The USPS post office on Market Street in St. Louis faced fire and flooding this week, local Fox-affiliate KTVI reported on July 27. Dennis Jenkerson, the city’s fire chief, told the news outlet that his department was called to the post office early in the morning on July 26 due to the flooding contributing to electrical issues and smoke in the basement. As a result, the post office is currently listed as temporarily closed on Google. The Postal Service is expediting repairs to the post office “to ensure we’re fully operational,” USPS spokesperson Mark Inglett told KLVT. “Flooding conditions presented some challenges for us, and we are reallocating resources, making every effort to provide delivery, however the safety of our employees is a top priority,” he added.
title: “Usps Is Suspending This Service Effective Immediately Best Life” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-10” author: “Gregory Garcia”
READ THIS NEXT: USPS Just Announced This Major Delivery Change, Starting Aug. 1. The USPS delivers to nearly everyone, but it can take service away if that drastic step is deemed necessary. Back in March, the postal agency halted international mail services to Russia amid the country’s war on Ukraine, asking customers in the U.S. to “please refrain” from trying to send any mail addressed to Russia through the USPS system, as it would be returned.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Then in April and May, two separate neighborhoods in the U.S. had their delivery service suspended following mail carrier attacks. First, some residents in Santa Monica, California, received notice of a mail suspension due to “multiple carriers [having] been subjected to assaults and threats of assault” from one individual, according to the USPS. Then in May, residents of one Greenfield, Indiana, neighborhood were told the agency would not reinstate delivery service “until residents install curbside mailboxes,” after loose dogs had left one carrier so injured she needed 50 stitches. Now, safety concerns for postal employees in a different area have led to another suspension. Residents in a Southside neighborhood of Des Moines, Iowa, are no longer receiving deliveries from the USPS, local CBS-affiliate KCCI reported on July 18. According to the news outlet, the agency recently sent a letter to residents on East Kirkwood Avenue, notifying them their mail service had been suspended after a postal worker was attacked in late June by two dogs in the area. On June 23, KCCI reported that a USPS mail carrier had been injured by a pit bull while delivering mail in the city. “A dog had gotten out of a fenced-in yard. Chased after him. He tried to get over a fence to get away from him and bit him up pretty good,” Sgt. Paul Parizek of the Des Moines Police Department told the news outlet. The worker is reportedly still recovering at home from last month’s attack. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. According to KCCI, the suspension affects deliveries for about 26 homes in Des Moines—and not all those impacted are happy about the decision. “I understand the safety of the post office individuals is most important, but it also affects a large majority for only one household that had the issue,” John Quast, a resident of the neighborhood, told the news outlet. Residents currently have to go to their local post office to receive their mail. But USPS spokesperson Mark Inglett told KCCI that the agency is hoping to come up with a plan within the next two weeks on how to resume service to the neighborhood. “What we’re looking to do is look for the best means of delivering that block. Most likely it will be a curbside delivery or a cluster box,” Inglett explained. The attack on the Des Moines mail carrier occurred during the same month that the Postal Service held a public service campaign for its annual National Dog Bite Awareness Week. Leading up to this week, the agency revealed that more than 5,400 postal employees in the U.S. were attacked by dogs in 2021 alone. “Every year, thousands of postal employees are attacked by dogs as they deliver America’s mail. And while it’s a dog’s natural instinct to protect their family and home, we ask all customers to act responsibly by taking safety precautions with their dogs while the mail is being delivered,” USPS Employee Safety and Health Awareness Manager Leeann Theriault said in a June 2 statement. “When a carrier comes to the residence, keep the dog inside the house and away from the door—or behind a fence on a leash—to avoid an attack.” The Postal Service also released a top 25 city ranking of where dog attacks happened most often last year. The top five cities were Cleveland, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles, California; and Louisville, Kentucky. Meanwhile no Iowa city—not even Des Moines—made the list, but only one incident is needed for the USPS to take action. “We take these things very seriously,” Inglett told KCCI in June, following the dog attack on the Des Moines carrier. Back in 2018, USPS spokesperson Kristy Anderson told the Des Moines Register that every postal carrier attack incident is reviewed separately based on the severity of the dog bite and how mail is delivered to that particular neighborhood. “Safety of our carriers is super important,” she said. “We will temporarily hold mail until we can get the situation remedied just so we don’t put our carriers in danger.”
