SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - The United States Postal Service is handling nearly 16 billion deliveries this holiday season, a record number.
Warren Burton, a program manager at the USPS, says it is a 12 percent increase from last year.
“There’s a lot of online shopping,” he said, “a lot more than last year.” As a result, the USPS processing and distribution center at Carmel Mountain Ranch in San Diego added more seasonal workers.
About 1,100 people are working around the clock up from the normal staffing of close to 900.
“We gear up all year for this time of the year, we know it’s going to be non-stop, high volume-high demand,” Burton added.
The White House declared Christmas Eve a federal holiday this year, but Burton says that USPS will remain open on Christmas Eve.
“We greatly appreciate the gesture, but we’re going to keep working so we can keep the mail going,” Burton said.
He says Dec. 20 is the last day to mail out a package or holiday card to make sure it is delivered by Christmas Day using regular shipping. Dec. 22 is the last day using express delivery.
