Post Office: Today is Our Busiest Day

Stopping by the post office with one last Christmas parcel was on this Seattlest's to-do list for the afternoon. Way to bring me down, My Wallingford, with the reminder that today is supposed to be the busiest day of the holiday season at the post office.

The U.S. Postal Service predicts Americans will post about 800 million pieces of mail today, about 40 percent more than the normal volume. Today is the last day to mail your cards and packages and be reasonably assured they will arrive before the 25th.

However no less a source than Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe promised in a recent press release that “If customers get their cards and packages to us by Tuesday, Dec. 21, we’ll get them delivered by Christmas.”

Hint: If you pay for and print out a USPS package label at home and tape it on your box, you don't have to wait in line. Just stroll up to the front counter, past the throng of disgruntled people, and drop it off.