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Biggest shipping week of the year kicks off

Local USPS representatives have estimated about two billion packages, letters and parcels will be delivered this week.

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - You may have heard of the biggest shipping day of the year for postal services, but now the United States Postal Service observes the biggest shipping week of the year to happen around this time.

Local representatives have estimated about two billion packages, letters and parcels will be delivered.

"Sometimes I think we make more deliveries than Santa," said Kelly Corisis, supervisor, customer service support at the USPS Toledo processing and distribution center. "Every day this week will be very busy and we at the post office will all be on the top of our game. This is our season to shine and we want to make sure everyone gets their packages on time. We are Santa's helpers."

According to Chad Collins, the manager of customer service operations they estimate a 10 percent parcel increase this year that are being sent out since the same time last year.

All USPS processing centers are 24-hours of customer service operations hour services, where mail and parcels are sorted and geared up for delivery roughly at 8:30 a.m., depending on the rush.

To accommodate the rush of the season, the center has signed on about 20 seasonal workers to mainly work as mail handler assistants and mail processing employees.

"In my opinion, we are here for you. There are many avenues in which we can make your experience the best experience," Collins said. "I believe that everybody is a US postal service customer even its employees. We as employees have the same expectations as our customers."

The standard rate for shipping passed on Friday, December 15th. But people can still send their packages and letters as late as December 22nd to get it to their destinations on or before Christmas.

Below is the breakdown of the last shipping dates this week:

  • Monday and Tuesday: Domestic first-class mail
  • Wednesday and Thursday: Domestic Priority mail
  • Friday:  Priority mail express

Each price to send the package is dependent on the size and weight. But USPS assures that if their customers have their items into their offices on the dates listed above, they will try their best to get them to where they need to be come Christmas day.

According to Collins, verifying one's information is key to ensuring that items arrive in a timely fashion.

"Don't reuse boxes if possible because it compromises the integrity of the cardboard. Only address one side of the box, put the return address and the recipient address inside of the box in case the outer label may fall off," Corisis added. "Package fragile items with bubble wrap or newspaper and if you're shipping something like a vase for example, fill it with newspaper or bubble wrap."

Despite the deadline for people to get their items into the post office in time, mail carriers work Saturday, Sunday and even Monday, the day of Christmas, to deliver the items.

More information on sizing and prices of packages can be seen here.

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