Smooth crunch time at Carol Stream post office
Kris Kreuser used just about every part of both of her arms to lug in six boxes of holiday cookies the Wayne woman planned to mail to her clients.
Although Monday was billed by the U.S. Postal Service as the busiest mailing day of the year, Kreuser had no problem getting to an automated kiosk at the Carol Stream post office to stamp her boxes.
And there were four more packages in the car waiting to be mailed.
"I still figured it was early," Kreuser said when she was informed of the significance of Monday's date. "I thought it wouldn't get really busy until Wednesday or Thursday."
Postal officials were expecting to process more than 275 million cards, letters and packages -- more than three times the average volume of mail seen on a typical day.
Most of those packages will be delivered Wednesday, making it the busiest delivery day of the season.
But there was little evidence of that rush Monday in Carol Stream, as residents casually filed in to mail packages, stamp and send out holiday cards and, on occasion, stop to say hello to Santa or Frosty the Snowman as the characters greeted children by the door.
"A lot of the automated machines really tend to speed up the process nowadays," said Tim Ratliff, a postal service spokesman for northern Illinois.
Julie Kedzior dreaded the drive to the post office, realizing she could be in for a wait. But the Streamwood woman was done mailing two boxes filled with holiday toys within 10 minutes.
"I knew it was getting close to that day," Kedzior said, "but today worked out well."
The Great Mail Crunch
Here's a by-the-numbers view of what the U.S. Postal Service will deal with this holiday season:
20 billion cards, letters and packages delivered between Thanksgiving and Christmas
275 million first-class cards and letters expected to be mailed Monday
1 billion average number of pieces of mail processed daily during the holidays
20 million pounds of mail to be processed for overseas military installations, including Iraq and Afghanistan
216,000 vehicles used to transport holiday mail
Source: U.S. Postal Service