Mail late? Help on the way

About 89,200 businesses and residences receive mail in Santa Rosa. For some, they receive it way late in the day.

Now the area's top postal official says hiring and procedure changes should help address that problem.

Postmaster Michelle Tucker said the postal service has hired 20 local mail carriers in the past month and an additional nine new carriers are joining the staff in the next few weeks.

Generally speaking, delivery delays stemmed from a staffing shortage driven by the departure of experienced mail carriers, Tucker said.

“Because we were having some staffing issues, those routes were vacant, so they were having to be carried by other people at the end of their route, so that's where the late delivery starts to come in.”

The holidays are an added crush. Santa Rosa mail carriers expect to deliver 206,180 packages in the city during the two weeks preceding Christmas, Tucker said.

She added the local postal service also plans to change how it processes mail so carriers can start delivering it earlier.