For 234 years, the U.S. Postal Service has delivered holiday greetings and gifts.
This year, the postal service estimates it will deliver 16.6 billion cards, letters and packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.
To ensure holiday mail reaches its destination in time for Christmas, the postal service recommends mailing by the following dates:
- Dec. 4 – Military mail destined for Iraq or Afghanistan
- Dec. 16 – Parcel Post
- Dec. 21 – First Class Mail
- Dec. 21 – Priority Mail
- Dec. 23 – Express Mail.
The busiest mailing day is usually Dec. 14, and this year, the USPS expects to process 839 million pieces of mail. On average, 583 million pieces of mail are processed in a single day. Those numbers jump up to 692 million during the holidays.
Holiday stamps should be plentiful this year. The USPS reports printing 2.11 billion.
Other USPS holiday facts include:
- 30 million in pounds, the amount of mail the Postal Service will process for overseas military installations, including war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- 192,000 Number of vehicles used to transport holiday mail, including 142,000 half-ton trucks.
- 97 million Number of customers who visit the Post Office during the holidays.
- 41 million Number of customer visits to the Postal Service’s Web site, usps.com, during the holidays.
- 3.6 million Number of shipping labels printed from home during the holidays using Click-N-Ship.
For more information about holiday shipping, visit usps.com.
