The U.S. Postal Service is prepared for the holiday season, and whether customers need to ship quickly or have plenty of time, there are options to make shipping convenient and affordable.

     There will be 32 postal facilities throughout Mississippi either opening or staying open longer on two Saturdays, Dec. 12 and 19, leading up to Christmas Day.  Those offices will provide full retail services, including stamp sales and package acceptance. 

    Locally, the office in Philadelphia, at 105 Posey Ave, will be open from 8:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. on those days.

    The Postal Service predicts Dec. 14 will be the busiest mailing and shipping day for holiday packages, letters and cards.  That same day is also expected to be the Postal Service’s busiest day online, with more than 7 million customers predicted to visit usps.com.

     Dec. 21 is expected to be the busiest delivery day for holiday packages, cards, and letters. The Postal Service anticipates more than 30 million packages alone will be delivered just that day.

     Consumers can also visit usps.com/holiday for more information and shipping options throughout the season.

    For delivery in anticipation of Christmas, the Postal Service recommends keeping the following mailing and shipping deadlines in mind:

     • Dec. 8 – Priority Mail Express International

    • Dec. 15 – Standard Post

    • Dec. 19 – First Class Mail

    • Dec. 19 – Global Express Guaranteed

    • Dec. 21 – Priority Mail

    • Dec. 23 – Priority Mail Express

     The Postal Service expects to deliver a total of approximately 15.5 billion cards, letters, flats, and packages during the 2015 holiday season. In addition, we are projecting approximately 600 million packages will be delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, an increase of 10.5 percent over last year’s volume.

    For customers tracking shipments, the Postal Service will offer real-time delivery notifications – meaning customers who sign up for alerts at myusps.com will receive notification within a few minutes of the delivery scan for select packages.