Holiday Mail Volume Expected to Hit 20 Billion

This Friday, the U.S. Postal Service begins its annual holiday mail campaign 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.

Nationwide, the U.S. Postal Service expects to deliver 20 billion pieces of mail between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. The season’s busiest mailing day will be Monday, December 17, when more than 275 million cards and letters enter the mailstream. That’s more than three times the average daily volume of 82 million. Total mail volume — cards, letters, catalogs, packages, magazines — should approach 1 billion on December 17, up from an average daily volume of 703 million pieces.

The busiest delivery day will be Wednesday, December 19.

Holidays by the Numbers

232 – Number of years the U.S. Postal Service has been delivering holiday cheer.

20 billion – Number of cards, letters, and packages to be delivered between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

3.6 billion – Number of letters mailed over the holidays.

82 million – Average daily number of First-Class cards and letters mailed.

275 million – Number of First-Class cards and letters to be mailed on December 17, the busiest mailing day of the year.

703 million – Average number of pieces of mail processed daily.

1.7 billion – Average number of pieces of mail processed daily during the holidays.

20 million – In pounds, the amount of mail the U.S. Postal Service will process for overseas military installations, including war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

7,400 – Number of Post Offices with extended hours.

55,000 – Number of places, other than Post Offices, where stamps can be purchased.

216,000 – Number of vehicles used to transport holiday mail, including 188,336 half-ton trucks.

2.7 billion – Number of holiday stamps the U.S. Postal Service printed this year.

128 million – Number of customers who visit the Post Office during the holidays.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.