US Postal Service Expects To Deliver 13 Billion Pieces Of Mail This Holiday Season
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) — With only 13 days left, time is ticking to get your holiday gifts and cards shipped to make those delivery deadlines.
At the U.S. Postal Service's North Texas Processing and Distribution Center, they'll take in more than 190 loads of mail over the holiday season. It's the second largest operation of its kind in the country, and it's where the holiday cards and Christmas presents go when they leave your hands and are en route to your loved ones.
They're sorted, canceled, bar coded and sorted through again before they're sent out for delivery. And the numbers are hard to comprehend.
"Monday night, for example, is our largest day of the year," Larry Wagener, the senior plant Manager at the Dallas District Postal Service, said. "We'll do right at $3 million on letters that night, and also that same night we'll do over 428,000 packages."
Difficult but achievable, he said. After all, it's the most wonderful time of the year here — and also the busiest. That means adding around 400 extra employees until Jan. 1 to help those gifts beat Santa's arrival.
"Just knew that it needed to get out now before it gets too busy, because the later it goes, the chances are it's not going to get out in time," said Anthony Bennett, who was at the post office shipping for Christmas. "I want to make sure it's there."
Wagener said they've already processed nearly 14 million cards and 10 million packages in less than two weeks. And while letter volume is in decline, he said package volume is steady.
"Obviously it'll take several days to weeks to figure out where we finish at, because the numbers will be rolling in for quite some time, but we're having a great year," he said.
The postal service expanded Sunday deliveries last month in certain locations. They'll also deliver some packages on Christmas Day for an additional fee.
