SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- USPS has been preparing for its peak shipping season during the holidays, typically between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. USPS spokesperson Susan Wright says that the timeline has been expanding over the past few years.
Wright says during the peak season, there are many days when an office could see double the amount of mail volume, and that's why it's important they plan all year for this.
Part of that is hiring more seasonal employees nationwide.
“This year for Holiday 2025, we anticipate hiring nationwide about 14,000 seasonal employees. That's down from approximately 40,000 just a few years ago, and the reason for that is we've been staffing up. We emphasize hiring people for career positions, as opposed to a temporary job,” said Wright.
Of those 14,000, Wright says they've hired a majority of that number, but they are still hiring. She says USPS plans to hire approximately 500 seasonal employees in Indiana. Michigan will hire approximately 260.
Over the past five years, USPS has added 614 package sorting machines, including 94 that were installed this year alone.
“Over the course of the year, we have installed across the country 94 new package sorting machines, and that's just to amp up our ability to handle the package volume that we get, particularly during peak season. So, for example, just five years ago, we could process about 60 million packages per day. Now we're up to 88 million packages per day that the postal service is able to process and then subsequently get delivered to our customers,” said Wright.
Below are the 2025 holiday shipping deadlines:
*This is for domestic packages, and does not include Alaska and Hawaii:
- First class mail: Dec. 17
- Ground advantage: Dec. 17
- Priority mail: Dec. 18
- Priority mail express: Dec. 20
You can find more information on shipping to Alaska, Hawaii, and other US territories, as well as international and military mail online.