Behind the scenes as post offices work to deliver packages on time

BALTIMORE -- Christmas is just over a week away.

That means time is running out to mail your holiday gifts

This is the last week to get holiday gifts in the mail by the recommended deadlines. 

This is the busiest mailing, shipping, and delivery week of the season.

WJZ's Caroline Foreback went behind the scenes to show you what post offices do to get your packages and letters delivered to you on time. 

"This is when a good bulk of the packages are coming through to get home to our families," said Kiyiana Ray, Postmaster at the Columbia Post Office. "These are most of the Christmas presents and where we see our heaviest volume coming in this week."

At the USPS in Columbia, Ray is responsible for making sure their busiest week of the year runs as smoothly as possible. 

She said getting everyone's presents under the tree in time requires all hands on deck, with mail carriers out from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. 

"Make sure that we're adequately staffed and that we have the mail prepped and ready for them to get out there and get these packages home to our customers," Ray said.

USPS Communications Specialist Mark Wahl said the postal service starts preparing for this week in January. 

"We made investments in people, places, and technology," Wahl said. "We converted 100,000 employees from part-time to career status."

Technology, like a parcel distribution machine, allows postal workers to process more packages in less time. 

Ray said it can sort up to 2,500 packages per hour. 

"It scans the bar code and it sorts them directly into the carrier route," Ray said. "When they're ready to carry it, we'll be able to just pull their hamper and get ready to take them out to the street."

The Columbia location oversees 82 carrier routes with 45,000 deliveries. 

It can be a lot of pressure.

However, Ray said a holiday case decorating contest helps keep morale high for Columbia's mail carriers. 

"They come in and it looks like 34th street. The carriers love it," Ray said.

To help make sure carriers can deliver your package by Christmas Day, USPS recommends the following shipping deadlines. 

December 16 for USPS priority mail express military service. 

December 17 for first class mail, December 19 for priority mail, and December 23 for priority mail express. 

"We are ready, we are here, and we are getting our packages home to our customers this holiday season," Ray said.

Customers can subscribe to USPS informed delivery to get alerts when packages arrive. 

The postal service is still looking for seasonal and year-round workers.

USPS has job fairs coming up on Thursday in Baltimore and Saturday in Glen Burnie.