USPS gears up for busiest days of year

The volume of mail delivered is still down compared to past years.

Dayton resident Gene Idol shipped cookies from the Dayton Post Office on Fifth St. on Friday. The U.S. Postal Service expects to deliver 16.5 billion letters, packages and cards between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. The busiest single day for this is expected to be Tuesday, Dec. 20, when 801 million cards and letters will be processed - nearly double the average daily volume, according to the service.

Ty Greenlees Dayton resident Gene Idol shipped cookies from the Dayton Post Office on Fifth St. on Friday. The U.S. Postal Service expects to deliver 16.5 billion letters, packages and cards between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. The busiest single day for this is expected to be Tuesday, Dec. 20, when 801 million cards and letters will be processed - nearly double the average daily volume, according to the service.

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By Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer Updated 11:26 PM Friday, December 16, 2011

DAYTON — The U.S. Postal Service expects to deliver 16.5 billion letters, packages and cards between Thanksgiving and  Dec. 31, and the two busiest days will be Monday and Tuesday, the service said Friday.

The postal service anticipates it will process 801 million cards and letters Tuesday, nearly double the average daily volume. Monday is expected to be the busiest day for packages.

This is a challenging time for the postal service. The service recently delayed movement toward closing any processing centers or post offices until mid-May in response to Congressional requests. That decision temporarily spared the Dayton mail processing center on East Fifth Street and several branches — including at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and others in North Dayton and at the Veterans Affairs Center — which were being evaluated.

The postal service also is in contract talks with two of its largest unions: the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union. Talks were extended through Friday. A postal service spokesman said he could not comment on the status of those talks.

Even though 800 million pieces of mail is a lot, it’s smaller by comparison with previous holiday season loads.

“I’ve been in the Postal Service for 17 years, and we definitely have fewer people and less mail than we did,” said postal service spokesman David Van Allen.

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