U.S. Post Office working diligently to bring Christmas joy
MARQUETTE — The holidays are the busiest time of year for many establishments across the country, but with the help of one federal organization, Christmas joy is brought right to the doorstep each and every year.
Elves are assumed to have pointy shoes and green hats but Santa has some other helpers that are disguised a little bit differently. The holiday season is by far the busiest season for United States Postal Service workers and just like Santa’s elves, they are working hard to get you your gifts right to your house, on time.
Carriers are working diligently to deliver packages, clerks are sorting the mail quickly, and parcels are being delivered seven days a week.
“We get parcels all day long from 4 o’clock in the morning all the way to t3 o’clock in the afternoon. Some of the things we’re doing differently this year is we’ll have carriers that will go out and deliver their entire route with excess packages, they’ll come back, they’ll load up packages again and they’ll head back out for a second time to get those packages to our customers,” said Marquette Postmaster, Brandon Nicholas.
The week after Thanksgiving is when the mail typically picks up and the USPS will continue to be in their busiest season until mid January. This season, it is estimated that the post office will experience a 14% increase in packages. When deciding on when to place an order for a gift, there are some dates to keep in mind.
“Our biggest mailing date is expected to be Monday, December 19th. That is when you need to get here if you want it delivered by Christmas because on the 22nd, were expecting that to be our biggest delivery day of the year. We’re expecting to deliver 30 million packages nationwide just in that one day alone,” said Nicholas.
If you plan on delivering something internationally, it is encouraged to mail it as soon as possible. It is estimated that over 800 million packages will be delivered this holiday season. Postal workers will also be helping out Santa by reading the letters delivered to him and helping him respond to each one.
While this is a busy season for the workers, they know that this is THEIR season.
“The great thing is I have such a great crew, they volunteer, I don’t have to force anyone to work. They know this is our time to shine. They are very postal proud of where they work and are having a great time doing it,” said Nicholas.
These elves will be working all the way up to Christmas day, making you their top priority.