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'Tis The Season: USPS Expects 100 Million More Packages Than Last Year

ELK GROVE (CBS13) – It's one week from Christmas and Monday is the kickoff for the busiest mailing week of the year.

The U.S Post Office is gearing up for 100 million more packages this year than last.

As you can guess, this time of year is the most hectic for shipping and delivery.

Workers are doing overtime to get packages delivered on-time. Most will work 12 hour days, officials say.

"We have what we call the night owls who come in at 12:45 a.m. and get everything ready for the workers to take out the parcels at 4 a.m.," said Elk Grove Postmaster Merjo Ocampo.

What used to be termed as the "busiest mailing day" of the year is now the "busiest week."

This holiday season the post office expects to process and deliver 200 million packages this week alone.

Take heed of these deadlines for sending out mail so it can get somewhere before Christmas: First-Class Mail, Dec. 19; Priority Mail, Dec. 20, Priority Mail Express, Dec. 22.

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