PORTLAND, Ore. — A handful of people reached out to The Story in the past week, asking the team to look into package delivery delays at the FedEx location in Troutdale.
One reader named Jeff sent in this email: "Hey Dan, could you look into what is going on at the FedEx location in Troutdale. Nearly all of the packages I receive from FedEx is delayed in Troutdale by as much as a week. I'm currently waiting for a critical medical device that has been stuck in Troutdale since Friday."
Jeff wasn't alone. Another reader named Steve sent a similar email: "I have a request for your team, how many other people have had a problem with FedEx? In the last week 2 different packages from different states made to the Troutdale FedEx depot, and were lost, and FedEx will not even talk to me. I had to contact Walmart to re-order the 2 items."
Some people on The Story team even chimed in, saying they'd also recently had issues with FedEx's Troutdale hub.
So what's the deal?
Yahoo Finance just published a story about FedEx's "disappointing" earnings report, with the ominous headline, "FedEx just painted a disturbing picture of the job market."
According to that article, during an earns calls with analysts, Raj Subramaniam, the company's chief operating officer, specifically mentioned the Portland hub, which is actually in Troutdale.
"Our Portland, Ore. hub is running with approximately 65% of the staffing needed to handle its normal volume," he said. "This staffing shortage has a pronounced impact on the operations ... which results in our teams diverting 25% of the volume that would normally flow through this hub because it simply cannot be processed efficiently to meet our service standards."
There's the answer. It turns out, like everyone else, FedEx has a staffing shortage, and it's really bad here in Portland. And that's why packages are getting stuck in Troutdale.
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