Columbia, SC — After experiencing the severe weather challenges of the past thirty-six hours, the U.S. Postal Service is working to open post offices and extend mail delivery to as many customers as possible in South Carolina's 290-296/299* ZIP Code area.  Postal operations in the Upstate and Midlands mostly, have been hampered because many roads and highways have been impassible, limiting the number of employees who were able to get to work and impacting the Postal Service’s ability to move mail between processing facilities and local post offices.  In coastal locations, operations are largely unaffected.

“The safety of our employees must always be our first priority,” says Acting Greater South Carolina District Manager   Sharon Rogers.  “With state officials urging people to stay off the roads as much as possible, we could not ask our employees to put themselves in harm’s way by venturing out on the roads if they felt it was unsafe.   We were able to deliver a very small percentage of mail on Wednesday, and open some post offices for a few hours, but overall, like other companies in this area, our operations were greatly reduced.

With the break in the weather that we expect later today, we should have more employees available, which will allow us to open more post offices and extend mail delivery to some of the customers we were not able to reach on Wednesday.  We will attempt delivery everywhere our employees can do so safely.  We ask our customers to be patient as we work to restore operations to normal levels. ”

Ms. Rogers urges customers to clear areas around their mailboxes of ice, snow and other obstacles that may hinder letter carriers during delivery.

For the location and hours of post offices in your area, go to: www.usps.com or call 1-800 ASK USPS (1-800-275-8777.)

(*Editor’s Note:  The Greater South Carolina District of the U.S. Postal Service covers  ZIP Codes beginning with 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296 and 299.)

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