If you wait, your gift might miss Santa's ride next Tuesday. The U.S. Postal Service says if you wait, you'll be late.
Spokesperson Sean Hargadon says if you want to get mail or boxes to someone by Christmas the time is nigh..
"...Thursday is the last day to send anything first-class or priority mail. On Saturday, December 22 is the deadline for priority mail express. So the recommendation is to mail everything NOW. As soon as you possibly can...don't wait...."
Hargadon says if you drop the mail off earlier in the morning it will get out sooner rather than later in the day...
"The most important thing about this is use the zip code. A city without the zip code doesn't work as well as one that has a zip code on your mail. Use capital letters, make sure you have a return address. If you're sending a package, make sure the box is sturdy. If it's an old box, cross out all the old markings. We don't want our scanners to pick that up and send it to the wrong place..."
Overall, the Postal Service anticipates delivering nearly 15 billion pieces of mail and more than 900 million packages between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, with 200 million packages moved this week alone. Hargadon says over the past five years, the package volume has gone from 4 billion pieces to 6 billion.
Hargadon says always be careful and pick up packages as soon as you can to avoid theft, or have a neighbor collect the package for you.
