By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
The Christmas season can be a stressful time for many folks, but perhaps none more so than the hardworking men and women of the U.S. Postal Service, who find themselves bombarded this time of year with a ceaseless avalanche of cards, parcels and packages wending their way across the country. It’s an avalanche that hits just as hard and fast for a small community post office like Glendive’s as it does anywhere else.
“The average carrier usually delivers about 40 to 60 packages a day. During the Christmas season, we have about 200 per route,” said Glendive Postmaster Brandi Lien. “So they’re working long hours, hard days, and it’s cold out a lot of the time, so it’s a very trying month.”
This week is an especially busy time for the USPS, with the two busiest postal days of the year. The busiest mailing day was Monday, during which the USPS estimates over 611 million pieces of mail were processed nationwide. The busiest delivery day will be Thursday, when the postal service estimates it will deliver more than 30 million packages that day. All told, the USPS is projecting it will have delivered about 16 billion pieces of mail this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, a 12 percent increase over the 2015 holiday season.
Locally, Lien said she anticipates the Glendive Post Office’s volume will be about the same as last year, but that’s an increase from previous years.
The biggest driver increasing local mail volume is online shopping, according to Lien. She guessed online shopping has increased the Glendive Post Office’s holiday mail volume by some 30 percent over the last few years.
“About the only increase now is Amazon (and other online retailers) has got so much more into our region than they have previously, so we’re seeing a lot more packages from them,” Lien said, adding that “people’s way of thinking” about how they shop is changing.
Also adding to the USPS’ mail volume are agreements the agency has with the world’s two biggest private parcel carriers, UPS and FedEx. That agreement is in place year-long, not just during the holidays, but it definitely adds to the holiday mail volume.
Under the agreements (which are in place nationwide, not just locally), the USPS delivers “last mile” on packages UPS and FedEx decide to hand off to them for purposes of cost effectiveness. Lien noted that most of the hand-offs from the private carriers to the USPS tend to be for rural deliveries, though she added that’s not always the case. The bottom line is that the two private carriers add considerably to the Glendive Post Office’s delivery load.
“During Christmas, we’ve been receiving about 175 to 275 packages from UPS, and from FedEx, probably another 200 to 300 from them every day,” Lien said.
To handle all the extra volume, the Glendive Post Office, like many around the country, has been making deliveries the last couple of Sundays to try and stay ahead of the game.
“Carriers have delivered the last couple of Sundays so we’re definitely on top of keeping ahead of it,” Lien said. “We usually just do it the first two or three Sundays before Christmas, but it really helps with our mail flow on Monday.”
One tactic Lien did not use this year was to hire additional help for the holiday season. She has in the past, but said she felt it unnecessary this year, given the quality of the staff she has on hand.
“We did not hire seasonal help this year, just because we had enough people with experience this year and I thought we’d be able to get the packages out without any problems,” Lien said.
Asked if she and her staff get stressed out this time of year, Lien responded that they all have enough Christmas seasons under their belts to take it in stride.
“Not anymore,” Lien said of being stressed out during the holidays. “We’ve all been here for several years, so it’s nothing out of the ordinary.”
For the remainder of this week, Lien noted that she is trying to keep four clerks staffed at the customer service windows in the post office at all times to help cut down on customer wait times.
And for those waiting until the last minute, there is still time to get that package to its destination by Christmas. The last day packages can be mailed and arrive by Christmas Day — though only via Priority Express Mail — is Friday.
“We’re excited to get your packages and get you on your way, and we hope everybody has a Merry Christmas,” Lien said.
Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.com.
