Hurricane Irma: No Mail, UPS Still Possible

MIAMI, FL — If you are expecting any mail or parcel deliveries anywhere in South Florida, they will not be coming via the U.S. Postal Service on Friday or Saturday. Officials have suspended all services to South Florida from Fort Pierce to Key West ahead of Hurricane Irma's anticipated arrival this weekend. Meanwhile, UPS deliveries were still possible at least on Friday.

Like the Miami Patch Facebook page below, then continue reading the story.

“There will be no mail delivery or retail service in South Florida today, including Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward Counties," Debra Fetterly of the U.S. Postal Service told Patch on Friday. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Miami Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Watch: Florida Braces As Irma Rips Across The Caribbean

All U.S. Postal Service retail locations have also been shut down ahead of Irma.

"As soon as it’s safe for us to resume delivery and retail we will do so," Fetterly said.

The decision to suspend mail service by the U.S. Postal Service does not affect deliveries by UPS or Federal Express. A spokesman for UPS said that South Florida residents should visit UPS.com and enter their Zip Codes to find out if service is still available. UPS has suspended service in the case of areas that are under mandatory evacuation orders.

Patch reached out to Federal Express and were that customers should visit www.fedex.com for updated service information.

"All of the mail for South Florida is being held at four processing and distribution centers, including three around the Miami area and one in West Palm Beach," she said. One of the Miami-area centers is located in Doral, while another is in Opa Locha and the third is about a mile from Miami International airport. The fourth is located in West Palm Beach.

Fetterly stressed that the mail is protected.

"Our focus is on safety," Fetterly said. "We’re anxious to resume service once it is safe to do so. We’re part of the community. We’re a fabric of the community. The sign of your letter carrier is a sign of return to normalcy. We want to restore mail service as quickly as it's safe to do so."

The Postal Service has about 9,000 employees in South Florida.

"We began planning for hurricanes back in April," said Fetterly, who has been relocated from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando to ride out the storm.

"I want to stress all the mail is secure," she added.

Photo by Bradley Gordon via Flickr