USPS to deliver 20 billion pieces of mail

In two short days, the U.S. Postal Service begins to deliver 20 billion pieces of mail across the country and around the world, a task that requires more than 200,000 trucks, a 30 percent increase in air cargo transport, 37,000 Post Offices and 700,000 employees.

All to make sure that holiday cheer arrives on time.

The Postal Service expects to deliver 20 billion pieces of mail between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, with the busiest mailing day set for Monday, Dec. 17. More than 275 million cards and letters should be mailed that day, more than three times the average daily volume of 82 million. Total mail volume (cards, letters, catalogs, packages, magazines) for the busiest day should approach 1 billion, up from an average daily volume of 703 million pieces.

The busiest delivery day will be Wednesday, Dec. 19. Staff at the National Operations Center report for “24-7 duty” on Dec. 1 to help navigate, literally, mail movement around the world.

In addition to the logistics of moving and delivering all this mail, the Postal Service will have extended hours at more than 7,000 Post Offices. Customers will be able to purchase stamps online or at more than 55,000 alternate access points, including banks, grocery stores, drug stores and Automated Postal Centers (APCs).

APCs handle 80 percent of the same transactions customers can conduct in a Post Office and are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for added customer convenience. Packages can be mailed regardless of Post Office hours using these self-service kiosks, located in thousands of Post Office lobbies across the country. APCs are as easy to use as an ATM, but without the fees. Many APCs let customers conduct business in Spanish.

And, as the way Americans celebrate the holidays change, the Postal Service is changing as well. There are working mothers, single fathers, blended families. Families are multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-taskers. They are plugged in, wireless, blogging, podcasting and texting.

That’s today’s holidays. The Postal Service has products and choices to help meet these growing and changing needs.

With 37,000 Post Offices around the country and a virtual Post Office only a click away, the Postal Service, like Santa, is everywhere during the holidays. And like Santa, the Postal Service will be delivering mail on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.