JONESBORO, Ga. — The U.S. Postal Service has delivered hundreds of dead baby chickens to a local feed store, and it’s hurting the store owner’s pockets and her heart.
The store is now blaming the Palmetto distribution center.
Kathy Swint, owner of Swint’s Feed & Garden Supply Store in Jonesboro, said they’ve been receiving chicks through the mail for decades.
Swint told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes that as soon as the USPS opened up the distribution center in Palmetto, their operation has been interrupted, and they’ve just been trying to keep their chicks alive.
Swint said USPS has delivered more than 500 dead chicks to her family-owned feed and supply store over the past year.
“It is very heartbreaking. It’s hard for me to pull myself out of it just because it’s happened so much this year,” Swint said.
She shared a photo of a recent shipment where nearly 100 chicks were dead on arrival.
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“It was hard, and it’s getting harder because it’s just happened so frequently this year, and it’s the loss of life. Yes, it’s a baby chicken, but it’s a living creature, and that’s why it’s so devastating to me. It’s just a loss of life,” Swint said.
The Swints have been in business for nearly 100 years, and for most of that time, they’ve received overnight shipments of live animals successfully until about a year ago, when USPS opened up the distribution center in Palmetto.
From the day it opened in February 2024, Channel 2 Action News has shown you the backed-up trucks that affected mail delivery across the state of Georgia for months.
Our stories on a lack of management prompted a U.S. Senator to get involved, which led to a Senate hearing and ultimately the federal Postmaster General’s resignation.
Fernandes contacted USPS about these dead chicks. They sent her a statement, saying:
“We’re aware of limited instances where there has been a breakdown in our processes and procedures with this type of shipment, and we are actively investigating and identifying the cause. Local postal teams will work with affected customers to address their concerns and determine timely solutions for any issues with these shipments.”
“I feel that they are saying the right things, I’m just not seeing the result of what they’re saying,” Swint said.
A USPS spokesperson also said in their statement that, “When properly packaged and labeled, these live parcels are given special handling outside of our normal automated process.”
“They’ve never shipped them to us when it does not say ‘live chicks’ all the way around the box on top of the box,” Swint said. “They put the proper amount of holes for ventilation around the box because they’ve been doing this for hundreds of years, as well, and they know what they’re doing. So, I can’t figure out the breakdown from the airport to Palmetto. It’s a people problem.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service said they are investigating what’s happening with these dead chicks, and Fernandes spoke to a mail carrier off-camera who said it breaks his heart when they have to hear these animals dying and they can’t do anything about it.
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