Still waiting on a St. Louis-bound holiday package? Here's what USPS says

ST. LOUIS - One week away from Christmas, it's crunchtime for families counting on their timely holiday deliveries.

In the St. Louis region, some customers say they're facing setbacks tied to an issue that FOX 2 first uncovered this summer: Packages intended for local delivery are being processed at a St. Louis distribution center, then routed elsewhere before reaching their recipients.

A St. Louis Reddit community post Tuesday brought attention to growing concerns this holiday season. The original author claims their packages have been sent "to every distribution center in St. Louis and everywhere but my address."

It seems they are not alone. According to several replies in the thread, others are experiencing similar issues...

• One person says they are waiting on priority mail from New York that was mailed out on December 11th. The package has reportedly been sitting at a St. Louis distribution center for three days.
• One person says their son's new phone was shipped to St. Louis on December 11th and has been marked "in transit" since then. The package status reportedly changed to "arriving late."
• One person says a package sent from Imperial, Missouri, to their south St. Louis home first arrived in St. Louis, then was sent to Kansas City and has sat there for a week without any movement.
• One person says they live in Columbia, Missouri, and have tracked packages that initially arrived to St. Louis, then were sent to Kansas City, then back to St. Louis before finally being delivered to Columbia.

FOX 2 reached out to a Missouri communications specialist on behalf of the United States Postal Service to inquire about the possibility of setbacks in package deliveries.

In response, USPS shared the following statement regarding anticipated Christmas deliveries:

"USPS is meeting the challenge of the year’s peak surge in mail and package volume with expanded processing capabilities, optimized transportation strategies, enhanced operational precision and the dedication of employees nationwide.

We gladly work to address any specific issue when brought to our attention and encourage customers to reach out via our website USPS.com."

If your package appears to be misrouted, USPS encourages you to take the following steps to inform them or seek further guidance:

• Visit the “Contact Us” or “Email Us” section of the USPS website and follow instructions accordingly.
• Tag or DM @USPSHelp on social media platform X.
• Send a message to USPS on Facebook.
• Check "The Holiday Center" section of the USPS website for additional information.

In previous communications with FOX 2, USPS did not provide information on how often packages are misdirected in the St. Louis area.

However, the agency released an audit in February 2021 on “misrouted mail.” It found that USPS misrouted almost 73 million misrouted First-Class letters from March 1 through September 30, 2020, which officials say was around 0.15% of total First-Class letter volume, or less than 1%, processed during that time.

The U.S. Postal Service says, as of Wednesday, nearly 7.5 billion mail and packages have been accepted this holiday season.