The post office has long delivered through rain, sleet and snow.
Now add Sundays.
In a move indicative of the changing retail landscape, McMinnville Post Office will now be delivering Amazon packages on Sundays. The new service takes effect this Sunday.
“We were selected as one of the sites where this will start happening,” said McMinnville postmaster Brent Nunley. “The goal is to get it to you faster.”
Nunley just learned of the agreement Wednesday and said delivery plans are still being formulated. He said it will require five workers to handle delivery – four route carriers and one clerk.
Sunday delivery will be divided into three rural routes and one city route. He said to expect packages to begin arriving around 10 a.m. The post office will handle the extra workload by giving additional hours to part-time employees.
“We don’t want anybody to be alarmed if they see someone walking to their door on Sunday,” said Nunley. “This is a new service so we want to make everyone aware of it.”
McMinnville Post Office handles about 400 Amazon packages a day, according to Nunley. Sunday delivery will be limited to Amazon packages right now.
“That could change in the future, but for now we’ll only be delivering Amazon,” said Nunley.
McMinnville was one of the post offices selected for Sunday delivery. Manchester, Tullahoma and Sparta are some others.
Sunday delivery is the latest punch thrown by Amazon in the fiercely competitive retail world that has seen traditional brick and mortar stores struggle to compete with the online giant.