Today’s Post Office is Ready for Today’s Busiest Mailing Day

Dec 17 – busiest mailing day Dec 19 – busiest delivery day

CAROL STREAM, IL — Today is the busiest mailing day, with more than 275 million cards, letters and packages being processed, nearly three times that of an average day. And the majority of that additional mail will be delivered on Wednesday, making it the busiest delivery day of the season.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re mailing. Over miles, over continents or overnight. If the destination is around the corner, across town or overseas, today’s Post Office is working around the clock to get today’s mail delivered on time,” says Tim Ratliff, Postal Service spokesperson for Northern Illinois.

The Postal Service expects to deliver 20 billion letters, packages and cards between Thanksgiving and Christmas. On average, the Postal Service processes 703 million pieces of mail every day. During the holidays, that volume will increase to 1 billion pieces of mail. The Postal Service will also process more than 20 million pounds of mail for delivery to military installations around the world, including war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Locally, on December 17, the Carol Stream Mail Processing Center (ZIP codes 601, 603) is expecting to process 2.1 million cancellations (cards and letters with a stamp that are cancelled with a postmark) compared to a non-holiday daily average of 650,000 cancellations. The Palatine Mail Processing Center (ZIP codes 600, 602) is expecting to process 2 million cancellations compared to a non-holiday daily average of 480,000 cancellations.

Running out of time? Log on and step into a Post Office at a time that works for you. Purchase gift cards and send greeting cards (USPS.com/cardstore), print postage (USPS.com/clicknship), buy insurance (USPS.com/insurance) or shop for stamps and gifts (USPS.com, click on “buy stamps and shop.”)

One of the most popular online services is Carrier Pickup, where customers may take advantage of the personal convenience and service of requesting a free package pickup from home or office (USPS.com/carrierpickup).

Today’s Holidays need Today’s Mail.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/news.

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.