HOLIDAY RUSH; POSTAL SERVICE ELVES KEEP SPIRITS UP, LINES MOVING.Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer Santa may be the top delivery guy on Christmas Day, but the U.S. Postal Service The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) processes and delivers mail to individuals and businesses within the United States. The service seeks to improve its performance through the development of efficient mail-handling systems and operates its own planning and engineering programs. gave him a run for his money Monday, processing an estimated 280 million letters throughout the country - nearly triple the normal volume - and 2.3 million in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . ``We speculate that's because of the good economy,'' said Postal Service postal service, arrangements made by a government for the transmission of letters, packages, and periodicals, and for related services. Early courier systems for government use were organized in the Persian Empire under Cyrus, in the Roman Empire, and in medieval spokeswoman Terri Bouffiou. ``When the economy is good and there hasn't been an increase in the postal rates, Christmas mail volume goes up.'' Nevertheless, clerks at the Van Nuys post office, one of the busiest in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , handled the overwhelming volume with administrative aplomb a·plomb n. Self-confident assurance; poise. See Synonyms at confidence. [French, from Old French a plomb, perpendicularly : a, according to (from Latin ad-; see . By all appearances, they were unflustered by the stacks of last-minute presents and piles of greeting cards See e-card. . ``You deal with people one at a time, try to be efficient and don't spend too much time with customers when it isn't necessary,'' said 23-year veteran clerk Dean Blau. ``But then I've been doing this a long time, so I don't feel any stress.'' His co-worker, clerk Sharon Kim, proudly explained that expanded hours and staff levels whittled down the waiting time for customers. Valley post offices have employed about 200 temporary workers to help with the Christmas crush, Bouffiou said. The Van Nuys office alone hired a dozen temporary workers and authorized about 1,000 hours of overtime to keep its seven windows fully staffed and open extended hours. As a result, some customers, who were prepared for the worst, found the lines surprisingly speedy, said Kim, a 17-year postal employee. ``They bring books, they bring magazines. But (one customer) said, `I didn't get to read this one,' '' she said. ``The line was out to the door. But he waited only, like, 11 minutes.'' Even at the swamped Woodland Hills post office, where the line snaked out of the customer lobby past the P.O. boxes, customers dreading Depression-era-style lines were relieved to find the wait manageable. ``As a fellow came out, he said, `28 minutes,' '' said David Zeiger, 52, of Woodland Hills. ``I had assumed it would be an hour, an hour and a half. So when I heard it was just a half hour, I was pleasantly surprised.'' Lisa Izutsu, 37, of Woodland Hills accepted the delay with resignation, if not delight. ``I know they've been trying to open longer hours, but I didn't get here yesterday, so I'm paying the price and having to stand in line today,'' said Izutsu, trundling Trundling is the practice of rolling large rocks or boulders down hillsides. It is discouraged in many areas, for reasons of safety and environmental impact. The bigger the rock the better, adhering to the principles of safety and good form. a trolley stacked with packages going to Hawaii. ``It's part of the holiday tradition. You stand in line at malls, in the bank, at post offices.'' Other mail services reported similar crunches Monday. ``Today we were busy all morning,'' said Steven Delgado, manager of Mail Boxes Etc. in Sherman Oaks. ``From the get-go we had a line out the door as soon as we opened.'' United Parcel Services expects to deliver 265 million packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas - about one for every man, woman and child in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , said spokeswoman Kristen Petrella. The Postal Service plans to deliver 120 million packages during the holidays - 9 million more than last year. Some employees believe that upswing might include former UPS customers who switched over to the post office during last summer's UPS strike. ``The volume's really picked up since the strike, and we picked up a lot of customers,'' said Lisa Boatwright, a 10-year clerk at the Woodland Hills post office. HOLIDAY MAILING ADVICE To ensure that packages arrive before the holidays next week, the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Express and UPS offer a range of services with varying delivery times. -- For mailings this week, packages can be sent by the Postal Service's priority mail as late as Thursday or Friday. Or you can use two-day priority services by UPS or Federal Express, but keep in mind that UPS does not offer a money-back guarantee on its two- or three-day services during the holidays. -- For the true procrastinator pro·cras·ti·nate v. pro·cras·ti·nat·ed, pro·cras·ti·nat·ing, pro·cras·ti·nates v.intr. To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness. v.tr. , all three offer overnight service that can get arrive on Christmas Eve day if mailed as late as Dec. 23. -- To beat the morning and lunch-hour rushes, try mailing your packages or letters in the mid-afternoon, between about 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. MAILING TIPS To ensure that your packages arrive in good time, and good condition, for the holidays, mailing experts offer the following tips: -- Pack gifts in plain corrugated cardboard Noun 1. corrugated cardboard - cardboard with corrugations (can be glued to flat cardboard on one or both sides) corrugated board cardboard, composition board - a stiff moderately thick paper corrugated cardboard n boxes, using only packing tape - not transparent tape, masking tape or string. If your packages are wrapped in a gift box, place the gift box inside a sturdy cardboard box cardboard box n → caja de cartón cardboard box n → (boîte f en) carton m cardboard box card n → before mailing. -- Cushion fragile items with bubble wrap bubble wrap n. See bubble pack. bubble wrap Noun a type of polythene wrapping containing many small air pockets, used to protect breakable goods or plastic foam peanuts. Newspaper can be used to pack lighter items. Allow at least 3 inches of cushioning material around items. -- Neatly print the destined des·tine tr.v. des·tined, des·tin·ing, des·tines 1. To determine beforehand; preordain: a foolish scheme destined to fail; a film destined to become a classic. 2. address in the middle of the box. Be sure to include ZIP code zip code System of postal-zone codes (zip stands for “zone improvement plan”) introduced in the U.S. in 1963 to improve mail delivery and exploit electronic reading and sorting capabilities. , business name, apartment or floor number. Print the return address in the upper left corner.For extra security, include a duplicate mailing label on the inside of the box. This will allow mailing inspectors to ship your box even if the outer label becomes smudged or unreadable. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, 2 Boxes PHOTO (1--Color) Jodie Brier brier or briar, name sometimes given any thorny plant, more specifically the sweetbrier, and the greenbrier. French brier, or brierroot, is a name for the root of the European white heath so widely used in the manufacture of smoking pipes. , center, waits patiently Monday to mail her holiday gifts at the Woodland Hills post office, where lines were out the door. Michael Owen Baker/Daily News (2) Parvin Amin Pour waits at the Van Nuys post office to send a Christmas package to relatives in Dallas. Tina Gerson/Daily News BOX: (1) HOLIDAY MAILING ADVICE (see text) (2) MAILING TIPS (see text) |
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