After a natural disaster, mail can help communities regain a sense of stability and access important information. However, managing direct mail campaigns in these challenging circumstances requires thoughtful planning, communication, and sensitivity.
While you can't control the weather, you can be ready when catastrophe strikes by understanding what happens to mail during natural disasters and having your own crisis management plan in place.
You may have heard the phrase, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." While many of us associate this unofficial motto with the United States Postal Service, it's not entirely true.
As a vital part of the United States emergency response structure, the USPS does everything they can to minimize stoppages, but sometimes disruptions are necessary to keep people and mailpieces safe.
Across the country, the postal service keeps emergency management teams at the ready for when a crisis strikes. Depending on the level of danger, they may use several different strategies until it's safe to go back to business as usual.
When a natural disaster like a hurricane or flood hits, the USPS might stop mail service to the impacted area to protect mail carriers and the mail itself until routes are secure again. Even conditions like extreme cold can stall service. For example, the USPS temporarily suspended deliveries in 10 states during the 2019 polar vortex.
The USPS may temporarily stop accepting new mail going to or from a crisis zone. This tactic may be used in natural disasters, like the 2025 LA wildfires, or other types of service disruptions, like the 2024 Canada Post strike.
If mail is on the way to an affected area, the USPS may choose to reroute it. In those cases, packages and paper mail may be available for pickup at a designated safe location until conditions improve. Rerouting is most likely when roads are damaged or weather conditions make transportation unsafe.
If mail is already at a processing center in an impacted region when disaster strikes, the USPS will work hard to keep it safe. For example, during Hurricane Katrina, mail that was already processed in New Orleans facilities was moved to an upper floor to protect it from water damage.
Suppose you have a campaign scheduled to send to a region impacted by a natural disaster. In that case, quickly adapting can help you save money, avoid significant delivery delays, and remain sensitive to those affected by the event.
Lob’s platform can help pause or redirect mail in two ways:
Once mail is with USPS, Lob can’t do anything to stop it, but you can still track its status and use USPS Service Alerts to monitor delays or disruptions.
USPS offers valuable resources that can give you visibility into your active direct mail campaigns during natural disasters.
This USPS feature provides visibility into where your campaign is in the mail stream, alerting you at every scan. Learn when pieces move from sorting to delivery trucks to mailboxes. In an emergency, you can monitor Informed Delivery to see if your mail gets stuck. You may not be able to cancel mail that's en route, but you can avoid draining your budget by sending more undeliverable mail to the same location.
USPS Service Alerts share critical updates about mail delays and service disruptions caused by weather, natural disasters, special events, or other changes impacting service. Be sure to monitor Service Alerts during natural disasters to avoid sending time-sensitive campaigns to impacted areas.
Understanding what happens to mail during natural disasters can help you make better decisions about your direct mail campaigns during challenging times. Leveraging tools from the USPS and Lob can help.
If you have questions or need assistance due to an extreme weather event or other emergency, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Account Manager. We’re here to help you every step of the way.
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