Tom McDonough spent 29 years working for the U.S. Postal Service, mainly as a postal clerk. So he’s very familiar with dealing with frustrated customers waiting for their packages.
Customers like himself.
“The point of view of the clerk up there, I understand,” he said. “I can see what they’re faced with.”
McDonough has been waiting for nearly two weeks for his packages, which include medication, tax information and now-outdated Christmas cards. He can see through the postal service’s informed delivery, which allows him to receive online updates, that his package had reached the Berlin facility 10 days ago. But somehow it hasn’t made it to his Middlesex home 6 miles away.
McDonough is one of at least a dozen central Vermont residents who have reported postal service delays on social media since the start of 2026. On Montpelier’s Front Porch Forum, residents have complained about not receiving letters and packages not showing up on their expected delivery date.
Those delays are only the latest issue in a long series of challenges the postal service has faced in the Montpelier area over the past few years. National postal cuts and local flood damage to the old Montpelier post office have caused similar spotty service snags in the past.
In a Monday statement, USPS spokesperson Paul Smith confirmed that there has been “sporadic delivery” on a few routes in Montpelier. He said the postal service has implemented contingency plans like bringing in employees from nearby offices to maintain deliveries when staffing issues arise.
However, an email from Josh Scott, manager of consumer affairs for the Vermont district of USPS, provided by McDonough contained additional details. Scott told McDonough that the Montpelier office is managing four vacant delivery routes due to staffing shortages.
As of Friday, Scott told McDonough, “We have two carriers dedicated specifically to working through the backlog of packages so that we can move mail out as quickly and safely as possible.”
Locals can also go in person to the Montpelier Carrier Annex in Berlin to pick up their mail, Scott said. But residents on Front Porch Forum have reported that postal workers at the facility will hand over their mail, but not their packages. USPS did not clarify the distinction in its emailed statements.
Other Montpelier residents told VTDigger that reaching the in-person facility would be a challenge. Melodie Lewis, who lives in downtown Montpelier, is disabled and uses a walker to get around.
She said she desperately needs to get ahold of a bill that’s due on Jan. 15, and is hoping her son can drive her to go get it.
“I just have a feeling I’m gonna go up there and they’re gonna say, ‘Oh, that’s in the truck,’” she said.
She emphasized that she has nothing but good things to say about the “friendly” mail carrier for her apartment complex.
“I don’t think it’s her fault,” she said. “I think it’s the postal service. They need to have more employees.”
Vermont lawmakers and local officials have raised concerns about the post office for years. At the tail end of his first term in 2020, President Donald Trump appointed a new postmaster, Louis DeJoy. Vermont’s congressional delegation lobbied against his cost-cutting measures multiple times during his five years in office, blaming him for mail delays. When DeJoy resigned in March, U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said “good riddance.”
Montpelier also spent over a year without a post office after the July 2023 floods damaged the old location at 87 State St., leaving residents unable to use a P.O. Box, send packages or buy stamps. A new retail facility opened at 89 Main St. in October 2024.
Lewis said her mail delivery in the past has been “hit or miss,” averaging out to a few days per week. But this is the first time it’s gotten quite this bad.
“They must be stretching themselves really thin,” she said.
McDonough said he’s noticed more frequent delays of a day or two, which stood out to him as a change from how the post office ran before he retired in 2016.
“It was unheard of to miss a delivery day,” he said. “The postmaster would go out and deliver mail.”
It’s unclear how much the staffing shortages could also be due to the general workforce shortage in Vermont. Smith said the postal service is hosting virtual job fairs two days a week in the Vermont area. Scott noted that the Montpelier office was planning to post new job openings online soon.
In December, Middlesex resident Jessica Millard asked on Front Porch Forum about finding volunteers to help deal with the postal backlog. But she told VTDigger that she’s since learned there’s a lengthy screening and training process for anyone working for USPS, including a federal background check and drug test.
“It seems to me that the postal service should consider streamlining or lessen the restrictions somewhat given this crisis,” she said via email. “It would be a great volunteer opportunity for high school students who want to boost their volunteer hours for their resumes.”
In the meantime, she’s still waiting for her mail.
“I wish I had a good, uplifting ‘community-rallies-together-and-to-save-the-post-office’ story,” she said.
