SPRING GROVE, Illinois – Online shopping on sites such as Amazon has led to the U.S. Postal Service delivering packages to a growing number of towns – including Spring Grove – on Sundays.

The expanded delivery will start this Sunday, according to a news release from the U.S. Postal Service, which asked residents to make sure walkways remain clear and dogs are safely inside.

The service will not include pickup and will be handled by regular staffers who normally fill in for full-time carriers, Spring Grove Postmaster Monika Pecha said.

Sunday delivery started in Los Angeles and New York City in November 2013 and has since expanded further. Some of the towns now covered include Harvard, McHenry, Richmond, Spring Grove, Woodstock and Crystal Lake, U.S. Postal Service spokesman Sean Hargadon said, adding the agency will run the expanded service through the end of the year, at which time it will be re-evaluated.

The U.S. Postal Service saw a 6 percent increase in package volume in 2013 over the previous year with an additional 12 percent jump during the last holiday season, according to the news release.

The self-supporting government agency is still struggling financially, losing about $3.9 billion in the first two quarters of this year, according to a Reuters report.

The Postal Service blamed much of the second quarter loss on a $1.5 billion increase in operating expenses as a result of workers compensation adjustments as well as continuing problems with meeting a 2006 mandate that it set aside funds for future retirees’ health care costs, the report said.

via USPS to deliver packages on Sundays in Spring Grove | Northwest Herald.