The U.S. Postal Service estimated it will handle more than 8 million letters and 500,000 packages Monday in the Chicago-area alone, marking it their busiest day of the year.
“It’s the continued growth of package shipping, online shopping and advertising mail,” USPS spokesperson Mark Reynolds said of the numbers, which are up slightly from last year.
Private carriers like FedEx are also expecting to see a boost, with more than 22 million packages being sent out Monday and total of 290 million shipments making their way through its vast fleet of 650 aircraft carriers, 100,000 vehicles and more than 300,000 team members during the holiday season.
Despite the volume of mail being sent out at the peak of the holiday rush, customers told NBC 5 the lines have been short.
“There was no waiting, I couldn’t believe it,” USPS customer Wanda Menghini said. “All the announcements were saying [to expect] long lines at the post office but this was great. They were ready and it took me less than 10 minutes.”
For those who still have holiday cards and gifts to be sent out, there still is time. Below lists the final days to ship by to ensure delivery before Christmas day.
USPS
Local
Standard Post December 15th
First Class December 20th
Priority Mail December 20th
Priority Mail Express December 23rd
Fed Ex
Ground December 17th
2 Day December 22nd
Next Day December 23rd
UPS
2nd Day Air December 22nd
Next Day Air December 23rd
Amazon
Free Shipping December 16th
Standard Shipping December 19th
Two Day December 22nd
One Day December 23rd
Local Express December 24th
