Pressure on to deliver gifts by Christmas

Global Business

As Christmas approaches in the U.S., many have a time to relax, unwind and spend time with family. But this may also be the most stressful time of the year for those who are tasked with delivering holiday packages by December 25th. Parcel delivery is projected to be way up in the 2014 holiday season.

CCTV America’s Hendrik Sybrandy reported this story from Colorado.

While it looks like another day at the post office, the Christmas rush has begun.

“We’re doing a lot of packages,” John Dickman, U.S. Postal service letter carrier said. “I normally do 20 in a day and I’m doing 40-50 now, during Christmas, the whole month.”

Dickman, a 20-year veteran of the Christmas rush said he’s never been busier and while it is the hardest part of the year, it is also the best.

U.S. Postal service letter carrier and 30-year veteran of the Christmas rush Billie Williams said it can be overwhelming.

“We’re overwhelmed with everything we have to do at this time of year,” Williams said.

This could be a record year. Postal Service parcel deliveries are predicted to be up 12-14 percent over last year’s numbers.

“We expect 470 million parcels to be delivered this month, that’s huge,” U.S. Postal Service spokesman, Dave Rupert said.

Until recent years, Christmas cards were the staple of the December postal diet. Letter mail has been down 25 percent over the past five years and package volume has gone up 50 percent. This trend can be attributed to the popularity of online shopping.

“I think as people get used to the Internet, used to getting goods and services that way, it’s becoming more and more of a way of life,” Rupert said.

Postal workers have noticed the Internet’s impact on the job they execute every day.

An improving U.S. economy has increased the number of packages, especially in the week before the holiday.

“We want people to ship early, we want people to mail early. People still wait ’til the last minute. And we’re ready for it,” Rupert said.

“Little kids, they love to see us coming cause we’re bringing grandma and grandpa’s Christmas presents to them,” Dickman said.

While working overtime and into the evening, Dickman has remains focused on getting packages under the trees in time. “And to those who didn’t order soon enough I’m sorry, we did the best we could to get it there,” Dickman said.