YORK, Pa. — The countdown to Christmas is on and millions of Americans will soon be checking off their shopping lists for the holiday season.
That means that postal workers like Matt Myers will be making more deliveries to people's doorsteps.
“It’s part of the job; it’s part of being a postman," said Myers.
On a normal workday, Myer said he drops off roughly 100 packages on his delivery route. However, that number of parcels nearly doubles during the holiday season.
Myers, who has been working as a postal worker for 29 years, said he is preparing to work up to 12 hours a day to get packages delivered.
“Your mindset has to be that you’re going to be out there for a while, and you’re going to try and get every package that you have in the truck delivered that day," said Myers.
Mark Lawrence, a spokesman for the US Postal Service, said the organization has been preparing since the beginning of the year for the holiday season. He said 158 new package processing machines have been installed across the country and around 7,500 seasonal employees have been hired to deal with the increase in deliveries.
“It’s kind of like the grand finale, the big fireworks display," said Lawrence.
Lawrence added that the USPS can process up to 60 million packages a day. In total, the organization expects to deliver more than 12 billion letters and packages during the holiday season.
"Whatever is thrown our way, we’re ready to serve our customers," said Lawrence.
As the holiday shopping season begins, postal workers say they remain committed to delivering Christmas cheer to people's doorsteps.
“They are counting on us to get that package to their door in a timely manner," said Myers.