MANSFIELD, Ohio – The holidays are quickly approaching and for those celebrating long-distance with their family and friends, knowledge of when and how to ship your season’s greetings is crucial.
David Van Allen, corporate communications liaison with the U.S. Postal Service, offers a number of tips for surviving the holiday mailing season, from packaging presents to shipping deadlines.
According to Van Allen, on average the U.S. Postal Service will process 506 million pieces of mail every day. That figures increases during the holiday season: from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve, the Postal Service will process an average of 536 million pieces of mail every day.
The busiest mailing day of the year is Dec. 14, when the Postal Service will process 612 million pieces of mail. The busiest delivery day for holiday letters, cards and packages is Dec. 21.
The Postal Service delivers 15.5 billion pieces of holiday mail from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve. That requires 193,594 postal-owned delivery vehicles to delivery holiday mail.
Van Allen’s best advice when shipping holiday packages: ship early. There are a few key shipping dates to keep in mind if you want your package to arrive by Dec. 25:
– Dec. 1 for first class mail and priority mail internationally.
– Dec. 8 for priority mail express international.
– Dec. 15 for standard post.
– Dec. 19 for global express guaranteed and first class mail.
– Dec. 21 for priority mail.
– Dec. 23 for priority mail express.
The U.S. Postal Service offers a number of shipping options depending on your level of procrastination. Standard post will deliver a package in two to eight days, whereas priority mail express will overnight your package to its destination.
In the days leading up to the Christmas holiday, the U.S. Postal Service will be open up until Christmas Eve. On Dec. 24, most post offices will close at noon and mail in blue collection boxes will be picked up at noon or earlier. In addition, priority mail accepted on Dec. 24 could have an extra day added to delivery time.
For extra last-minute shippers, be warned that post offices will be closed on Christmas Day. Packages will only be delivered in select locations based on volume.
When sending presents through the mail, it’s important to know how to pack a gift like a pro. Van Allen recommends wrapping the present in a sturdy box taped closed, then placing the wrapped gift box in a plain larger box lined with plenty of cushion contents to protect the gift. He also recommended removing all batteries from electronics and placing an extra shipping label inside the box in the case of returns or damaged labels.
All addresses on presents and cards to be shipped should be printed clearly and in capital letters, including complete “to” and “from” information. Be sure to label a box as “FRAGILE” if it needs to be handled with extra care.
And – spoiler alert – for children writing letters to Santa Claus this year, the Postal Service can even help provide a reply from Santa complete with a postmark from the North Pole. Insert your personalized letter to your child signed “From Santa” into an envelope addressed to the child, and add a return address from Santa at the North Pole to the envelope. Ensure a first-class mail stamp is on the envelope.
Insert the envelope addressed to the child inside another, larger envelope with appropriate postage and address it to:
North Pole Postmark
Postmaster
4141 Postmark Drive
Anchorage, AK 99530-9998
All “Letters from Santa” must be received by the Anchorage, Alaska, postmaster no later than Dec. 15. Santa’s helpers in Alaska will take care of the rest!
