How the USPS Stole Christmas

Hundreds of care packages sent to US military members stationed overseas during the holidays were returned to a Connecticut-based nonprofit over a “ridiculous” minor technicality cited by the United States Postal service – and now there’s no way the boxes will make it to the service members in time.

Three weeks ago, nonprofit Boxes to Boots shipped 1,139 holiday care packages intended for overseas service members.of those, 884 were flagged by US Customs and sent back by USPS to the nonprofit, based in Berlin, Conn., though some were also lost in transit, the charity organizers told NBC Connecticut.

The Boxes and Boots team struggled to fathom what coudl’ve gone wrong – and why the other 255 packages were allowed through.

The institution hosts an annual drive to collect donations of snacks, candies and toiletries for overseas service members unable to be home with their families for the holidays, and also a $75,000 fundraiser to cover the exorbitant shipping and operational costs.

this year, the nonprofit paid roughly $10,000 in shipping costs, the outlet reported.

When USPS rejected the mountain of packages, they cited