USPS holiday shipping deadlines start this week

FLORIDA — If you’ve been putting off sending your Christmas card or gift, this week is your last chance to make sure it arrives by Christmas.

The US Postal Service has announced its deadlines for mail and packages to arrive on December 25th.

USPS Post Master James Chambers said the Tampa area is seeing more mail and packages this year compared to last year, and will receive and deliver hundreds of thousands of packages between now and the end of the year.

“It’s a challenging time of year for us, but we always try to staff up well, prepare our carriers. We’ve extended delivery times to accommodate the extra workload,” Chambers said. “We have extra plans in place at times to deliver the extra packages earlier in the day so we have good plans.”

The USPS says to save time in line, you can pay for postage and print labels online or at self-service kiosks inside your local post office. Large packages must be handed over at the counter, or you can schedule a pick-up of the post at your home or business.