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USPS preps for season’s busiest week

Ivy Briscoe, a mail processing clerk, works at the Suburban Maryland Processing and Distribution Center
Ivy Briscoe, a mail processing clerk, works at the Suburban Maryland Processing and Distribution Center in Gaithersburg last week.

The Postal Service is ready for its busiest week of the holiday season.

The organization predicts it will deliver about 200 million packages and almost 3 billion pieces of mail — including greeting cards — during the week of Dec. 17.

Overall, USPS plans to deliver about 15 billion mailpieces and 900 million packages during the 40-day stretch between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

“This is what we have practiced for all year,” Lebanon, IN, Postmaster Laurie Poindexter said last week as she surveyed a package-packed workroom inside her Post Office.

In addition to more deliveries and bigger crowds at Post Offices, USPS is preparing for more customers online. The organization predicts usps.com will have its busiest day of the season Dec. 17, when the site is expected to receive 8 million customers, including 400,000 Click-N-Ship users.

To keep things moving this season, USPS hired extra help, boosted transportation capacity and expanded Sunday package deliveries in several markets.

Additionally, the organization is encouraging customers to use Informed Delivery, a free feature that allows consumers to view incoming mail, track packages and reschedule deliveries.

No matter what the week brings, employees said they’ll get the job done.

“It’s what we do,” said Mike Allison, officer in charge at the Oklahoma City Post Office.

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