PHOENIX — The clock is ticking for people to get those holiday packages shipped to friends and family. United State Postal Service facilities are buzzing.
On Thursday night alone, at a west Phoenix facility, USPS said it processed more than 680,000 packages and mail. A little more than half of that stays in Arizona.
The number of packages processed has been growing each day as Christmas and New Years approaches. This week is the busiest for USPS and they tell us they prepare all year for the holiday season.
One machine in the facility processes about 3,000 packages per hour.
“It processes about ten times the amount of mail as a manual sorting would do. This is just one of a bunch we installed this year,” said Rod Spurgeon, the communications specialist for USPS.
Across the country, USPS installed more than 130 new processing machines to keep up with all the mail.
Workers are busy zipping around the 500,000 sq ft facility making sure people get their packages on time.
Just last year, between Thanksgiving and New Years, USPS said it processed more than 13 billion cards, letters and packages.
So far this year since Thanksgiving, they’ve processed about seven billion nationwide. Spurgeon said they can’t exactly say why the number is lower but says people do drop off last minute.
“Ship early. Don't wait until the last minute. You never know when Mother Nature will come and have a few ideas of her own,” Spurgeon said.
Some important dates to remember to ensure your package gets to its destination by Christmas:
- December 17 for USPS retail ground services and first-class mail
- December 19 for USPS priority mail service
- December 23 for USPS priority mail express
- December 21 for UPS second day air
- December 22 for UPS next day air
- December 20 for FedEx express saver
- December 23 for FedEx same day
