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Holiday Letters Need Mailing My Monday For Christmas Delivery

The U.S. Postal Service no longer calls the third Monday in December the busiest "day" of the year, but this is the busiest "time," which means a series of deadlines looms for mailing holiday letters and parcels.

Ben Akaby oversees distribution operations at USPS' central Phoenix office and said Valley customers should plan on getting their letters to the post office by Monday, Dec. 17, if they hope to have deliveries made by Christmas.

If it's an odd shaped or bulky letter or parcen, he warned that there's a risk dropping it in a mailbox.

"Give that to the clerk through the counter and make sure to tell them that this is a non-machineable letter piece. Make that separation at the counter."

Most postal systems are now highly automated and can bypass old issues with cards and packages, but with 16 billion deliveries this season, Akaby said it's still a good idea to label clearly with a black pen.

USPS 2018 Holiday Shipping Deadlines

The Postal Service recommends the following mailing and shipping deadlines for expected delivery by Dec. 25 to Air/Army Post Office/Fleet Post Office/Diplomatic Post Office and domestic addresses*:

  • · Dec. 14 – USPS Retail Ground
  • · Dec. 18 – APO/FPO/DPO (except ZIP Code 093) USPS Priority Mail Express®
  • · Dec. 20 – First-Class Mail (including greeting cards)
  • · Dec. 20 – First-class packages (up to 15.99 ounces)
  • · Dec. 20 – Hawaii to mainland Priority Mail and First-Class Mail
  • · Dec. 20 – Priority Mail
  • · Dec. 20 – Alaska to mainland Priority Mail and First-Class Mail
  • · Dec. 22 – Alaska to mainland Priority Mail Express
  • · Dec. 22 – Hawaii to mainland Priority Mail Express
  • · Dec. 22 – Priority Mail Express
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Holliday Moore was a reporter at KJZZ from 2017 to 2020.