Mail Carriers Are Out Early For Priority Yule

Help our carriers stay safe as they deliver cheer this season

OHIO — Postal Service carriers are working hard to deliver your special items this holiday season, and they’ll be working earlier than usual to make your season bright. Between the hours of 6 a.m. – 9 a.m. you may hear a clatter on your porch. Before you rush “to see what’s the matter” – it may be your local, friendly letter carrier out to help Santa make deliveries early this year.

Here are a few safety tips you can use to keep our carriers safe as they deliver early in the morning hours:

•Keep a porch light on
•Keep walkways clean
•Keep your dogs secured inside

2021 Holiday Shipping Deadlines

No matter the time of year, on-time package deliveries start with the customer — and knowing when to ship your packages is key. Here are some key shipping dates to keep in mind this season:

2021 Holiday Shipping Deadlines

•Dec. 15 – USPS Retail Ground
•Dec. 17 – First-Class Mail (greetings cards and letters)
•Dec. 18 – Priority Mail
•Dec. 23 – Priority Mail Express

Busiest Week

The week of Dec. 13-18 is anticipated to be the busiest mailing, shipping and delivery week of the season. USPS estimates nearly 2.3 billion pieces of mail, including greeting cards and packages, will be processed and delivered this week.

The Postal Service plans all year for the peak holiday season. This year’s preparations include leasing 7.5 million square feet of additional space across more than 40 annexes to handle the increase in the number of packages being mailed. The Postal Service is also currently hiring for more than 40,000 seasonal positions to help process and deliver the mail.

Since April, the Postal Service has installed 112 new package sorting machines, reflecting the “Delivering for America” plan’s $40 billion of planned investment over 10 years. The new machinery gives the Postal Service the capacity to process an additional 4.5 million packages each day.

Holiday How-Tos

The Postal Service offers shipping tips in 10 video “how to” guides. Each video is less than three minutes long and shows how to properly address and ship packages, as well as how to pack a box so items arrive safely.

Mail and packages weighing more than 10 ounces and/or are more than a half-inch thick cannot be dropped into a collection box or left for a carrier to pick up if you’re using stamps for postage. Instead, take them to a retail associate at any of our Post Office locations or use one of our self-service kiosks to weigh your packages and print shipping labels.

Additional news and information — including all domestic, international and military mailing and shipping deadlines — can be found at the Postal Service Holiday Newsroom: usps.com/holidaynews

Ship From Home

Don’t feel like going to the Post Office to drop off your special gift? You can stay home — cozy and socially distant — by going online. Visit usps.com or use the Click-N-Ship feature for help shipping that special holiday gift, ordering free Priority Mail boxes, printing shipping labels, purchasing postage and even requesting free next-day Package Pickup. And usps.com is always open.

For details and to order, visit store.usps.com/store/home