In the lobby of the Greenwood post office, Michelle Eilerman flipped through a thick stack of letters, making sure to place a stamp on the top right corner of each envelope.
With a large family, Eilerman had 60 cards she was getting ready to mail out Monday morning. Her goal each year is for the cards to arrive by Christmas Day, though she doesn’t always make the deadline, she said.
This year, her cards should arrive at their destination on time. The deadline for First Class Mail, which includes standard envelopes, is today if you want to avoid paying extra to make sure letters and cards get delivered by Dec. 25.
Eilerman was one of several dozen people shipping out letters and packages at the post office Monday morning, which was receiving a steady flow of visitors. The U.S. Postal Service touted Monday at the busiest day of the year, and anticipated having 7 million customers visit its post offices nationwide.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryAnywhere from 12,000 to 17,000 packages go through the Greenwood post office at 407 W. Smith Valley Road each day, accompanied by an average of 77,000 letters, postmaster Michelle Rockey said.
To prepare for the holidays, the postal service has taken several steps to mitigate long lines. Peak times with the longest lines tend to be from 1 to 3 p.m. An automated machine available all the time in the lobby allows customers to weigh packages and purchase the necessary postage and stamps. An additional worker was in place in the lobby to handle simple purchases.
To keep up around the holidays, the post office has another 15 workers in addition to its 100 person staff, Rockey said.
The goal was to take care of simple transactions quickly, while leaving the main line for items headed to other countries or other more complex purchases, Rockey said.
The post office also added hours on several of the previous Sundays, she said.
Ruth Everson, who was standing in line Monday morning, had 45 letters to ship, including ones to relatives in Norway and friends in Australia.
She knows the ones sent to foreign countries won’t arrive by Dec. 25, but sending letters remains an important way to keep in touch with people around the holidays, Everson said.
Liann Dixon came to the Greenwood post office branch after being unable to find a space to park at the Franklin branch, she said. She had 38 letters prepared to send to family and friends in Indiana, Michigan and Colorado with the goal of getting the letters to them by Christmas, if possible.
In a digital age where a message can be sent instantly via Facebook or email, taking the time to send a letter provides a special touch, Dixon said.
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Still have a letter or package to mail? Here are the deadlines if you want to make sure it arrives by Christmas Day.
Dec. 20: First-Class Mail, standard envelopes and packages weighing up to 13 ounces.
Dec. 21: Priority Mail
Dec. 23: Priority Mail Express
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