Mail Carriers Have Biggest Load of Year
Postal workers spent Tuesday sorting veritable mountains of green and red envelopes.
That’s because Monday was the busiest day of the year, in Orange County and elsewhere, for mailing cards and letters. And today is expected to be the busiest day for receiving them.
“If you look in your mailbox and average,” said Terri Bouffiou, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service, “you should have the most mail [today] of any day of the year. That’s because people have gotten their Christmas cards ready over the weekend and mailed them on Monday.”
While most people traditionally mail their cards on the Monday before Christmas, Bouffiou said, this year’s record mailing happened a week early because next Monday is Dec. 23, too late for most people to mail.
Thus, 3.3 million letters and cards were mailed in Orange County on Monday compared with the usual 1.5 million, Bouffiou said. And today, she said, about 10.26 million letters and packages are expected to be delivered, compared with the usual 9.8 million.
“We will be very busy until Christmas Eve,” Bouffiou predicted.
This year’s Christmas mailing volume is expected to be about 4% higher than last year’s for cards and 10% higher for parcels, largely because the improved economy has fostered more holiday spending, she said.
To prepare for the onslaught, the post office hired 250 temporary workers to help load and unload mail trucks at Orange County’s processing and distribution centers in Santa Ana and Anaheim Hills.
“This is our opportunity to demonstrate to our customers what we can do,” said Robert G. Gillis, senior manager of the Santa Ana plant.
Some, at least, seemed to appreciate the effort.
“It’s being run really well,” said Darcy George, standing in the lobby with 30 envelopes under her arm. “If I’d had more time, I’d have sent them early.”
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In the Mail
Monday marked the highest number of cancellations for a single day this year at Orange County post offices- nearly twice the daily average. Days with most cancellations in 1996, in millions:
Mother’s Day*: 1.6
Valentine’s Day*: 2
Tax Day, April 15: 2.3
Dec. 16: 3.3
Normal day average: 1.4
* Include three prior days
Source: U.S. Postal Service: Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times
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