The Postal Service has delivered more than 68 million COVID-19 test kit packages — over 270 million tests in all — to U.S. households.
Each kit contains four tests. On average, it takes 1.2 days for USPS to deliver a test kit package once the tests have been received from the manufacturer, prepared and entered into the mailstream.
On Feb. 22, the Postal Service delivered more than 6 million COVID-19 test kit packages — the highest single-day volume delivered since shipping began at the end of January.
“There are few assignments the Postal Service has received that better exemplify our public service mission than the request of the Biden administration to deliver America’s COVID-19 test kits,” said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
“It is a major point of pride throughout our organization to have met our own performance expectations and those of the public. We are grateful for the strong collaboration of our partners across the federal government, including the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense. Thank you to our Postal Service employees, our unions and management association partners for so effectively and efficiently delivering such strong performance across the board.”
USPS pivoted from its peak delivery season during the holidays to focus on the delivery of the test kits.
Quick negotiations with the postal unions allowed the organization to retain many seasonal staffers, who were reassigned from their holiday roles, and new annex facilities acquired last year were reconfigured to ensure workspace and storage capacity could handle the influx of millions of test kits daily.
Orders for the free tests are placed through covidtests.gov, a user-friendly website, managed by USPS in partnership with the U.S. Digital Service, that launched Dec. 21.
The kits are sent through First-Class Package Service, and by Priority Mail to Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories and military addresses.
The free at-home COVID-19 test kits can be ordered at covidtests.gov or by calling 800-232-0233 (TTY 888-720-7489).
The Postal Service’s March 2 news release has additional information.
