Copyright The Oregonian
The United States Postal Service says it has made significant investments to prepare for the upcoming 2025 holiday shipping season. USPS has put almost $20 billion toward facilities and processing improvements over the past four years, the agency said. The addition of 614 package sorting machines across the past five years — including 94 this year — has helped the postal service increase its daily processing capacity from 60 million to 88 million packages. And that’s not counting all of the greeting cards and other mail that the postal service also will be handling. Last December, USPS says it delivered more than 350 million mail pieces per operating day. The agency also is trying to ensure that mail is delivered quickly. This summer, USPS implemented a two-day or three-day turnaround time for delivering mail and packages within the same region. Customers sending holiday gifts to addresses farther away can expect delivery in 2-5 business days with USPS Ground Advantage, 2-3 business days with Priority Mail and 1-3 business days with Priority Mail Express, the agency said. Maybe the biggest question people have for USPS during the holidays is this one: When do I need to send my packages to ensure they arrive by Dec. 25? Here’s when the postal service says you should ship your holiday packages: For USPS Ground Advantage: Send by Wednesday, Dec. 17 For First-Class Mail: Send by Wednesday, Dec. 17 For Priority Mail: Send by Thursday, Dec. 18 For Priority Mail Express: Send by Saturday, Dec. 20 The postal service will be hiring 14,000 seasonal workers to help handle the increased volume of mail around the holidays. It has opened new facilities this year in places such as Phoenix and Dallas, and more new facilities will open soon in Memphis, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; Tampa, Florida; and San Antonio. USPS also has added almost 29,000 new vehicles to its fleet this year.
