Post Office Urges Early Holiday Shipping, Mailing

In a year that's seen record numbers of online orders and stuff being shipped and mailed, the U.S. Postal Service is urging people to think ahead and ship as early as you possibly can this holiday season.

USPS already experiences a holiday surge annually that is expected to increase in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a USPS news release, the busiest mailing and delivery days are the two weeks before Christmas. The increase actually starts around December 7 and starts to kick into high gear about a week later.

The postal service recommends the following deadlines for expected delivery by December 25th:

• Dec.15- USPS retail ground service
• Dec 18- First class mail including greeting cards
• Dec 18- First class packages (up to 15.99 ounces)
• Dec 19- Priority Mail service
• Dec. 23- Priority Express Mail service

Just like everything else these days, the best way to do business will be to avoid in person stuff at the post office and just do your everything you need to do online at usps.com.

A few months ago, after I was laid off from my previous job due to COVID cuts, I explored working with USPS...actually took the test, got a call from a local facility in the Seattle area and toured the facility..

WOW did I get a wake up call. There is so much that goes into these men and women shipping our stuff and getting the things that we send to us and our friends and family on time. It was pretty overwhelming and declined the position but it certainly gave me a little insight to what these people go through on a daily basis, ESPECIALLY around the holiday season.