Busiest Mailing Day Keeps Sidney Post Office On Toes By Klark Byrd kbyrd@suntelegraph.com SIDNEY - The United States Postal Service says the busiest shipping day for its employees was Dec. 15, when it handled nearly 1 billion pieces of mail. Don’t expect postal employees to be taking a break just yet, after all, they have to deliver all those shipped letters, cards and packages. “Monday was one of our busiest days,” said Deb Deal, Sidney post office supervisor. Deal says the Sidney post office shipped more pieces of mail on Monday than it does on a normal Monday, which was seen in post offices throughout the United States. According to Deal, 400 customers were helped on Dec. 15 compared to the normal 260-275. Nationwide, the United States Postal Service expected to process its largest volume of mail of the season on Monday as it handled approximately 960 million cards, letters and packages. On a normal day, the post offices across the nation handle approximately 700 million pieces of mail. The postal service says it will deliver more than 212 billion pieces of mail this year, with 19 billion of those being delivered between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s no wonder with nearly 1 billion of that shipping occurring Monday that Dec. 17 is usually the busiest delivery day for postal employees. Such was not true at the Sidney post office. Deal said Wednesday was a great - but normal - delivery day. “I’m expecting this coming Monday to be our busiest delivery day,” she said. Busy or not, the United States Postal Service hasn’t forgotten about those last-minute shoppers who become last-minute shippers. According to the Chief Operating Officer Patrick Donahue, there’s still time to get those packages shipped off in time for Christmas delivery. “Holiday shoppers should get their first-class mail to us by Dec. 20 to ensure delivery before Christmas Day,” Donahue said. “For those last-minute shoppers, we can accept express mail up to Dec. 23.” Donahue goes one step further, offering a promise to customers who make it by those dates. “If you give it to us, we’ll get it there,” he said. “We know it’s crunch time for getting your holiday gifts sent.”