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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Monday was the busiest day of the year for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Gearing up for the last-minute holiday mailing rush, local post offices in Colorado Springs handled two to three times more customers than normal.
Nationwide the USPS handled approximately 830 million pieces of mail on Monday alone, which is about a 40 percent increase from any other day.
At the Cimarron Hills Postal Service in Colorado Springs the average wait time was 45 minutes to an hour, but customers said the wait times were expected.
A decline in mail volume has put the USPS at an estimated loss of $7.8 billion this year. As a consequence, offices in Colorado Springs are not able to offer extended hours or days of service like in years past, but officials said they are still handling the volume just fine.
The deadline to mail packages for delivery by Christmas within the U.S. is Dec. 21. If packages are being mailed within Colorado the deadline is Dec. 22.
Any mail after these dates cannot be guaranteed to arrive in time for Christmas unless Express Mail is used, but even then things like weather can cause unexpected delays.
