Expecting a busier holiday season than last, the U.S. Postal Service on Friday issued its recommended mailing and shipping deadlines for package delivery in time for Christmas.
The Postal Service anticipates delivering 15.5 billion pieces of holiday mail between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve this year. About 600 million of that will be packages, an increase in volume of 10.5 percent over last year, it said.
The busiest mailing and shipping day for packages, letters and cards is expected to be Monday, Dec. 14, and the service says its busiest delivery day will likely be Monday, Dec. 21.
Here are the U.S. Postal Service's recommended 2015 Christmas shipping deadlines:
- Nov. 7: APO/FPO/DPO Standard Post
- Dec. 8: Priority Mail Express International
- Dec. 15: Standard Post
- Dec. 19: First Class Mail
- Dec. 19: Global Express Guaranteed
- Dec. 21: Priority Mail
- Dec. 23: Priority Mail Express
The service expects to hire 30,000 employees to handle the increased holiday mail volume.