Volcano impacts Postal Service deliveries

Updated 2:28 p.m. ET
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night keeps letter carriers from making their appointed rounds. But a volcano sure will.

The U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday that the Icelandic volcano eruption is disrupting most deliveries to European destinations and that it currently cannot accept perishable items bound for most of the continent.

That pesky volcano is messing with mail deliveries too. (AP)

The mail agency is rerouting mail through alternate airports and is moving some deliveries by booking available ground transportation with companies including United Parcel Service, according to a statement. Post office employees continue to accept mail and packages bound for Europe, but are advising customers to anticipate delayed arrivals until air travel resumes to normal.

Military mail to and from Europe is also impacted, but mail to war zones continues as normal, the Postal Service said. Service guarantees for the Postal Service's Global Express Guaranteed service currently are not guaranteed due to "an act of nature," one of the terms and conditions for such shipments. Similarly, service guarantees for Express Mail International to Great Britain, France and Spain have been temporarily suspended.

Airlines have lost an estimated $1.7 billion due to the volcanic eruptions, an industry group said Wednesday.