HONOLULU (KHON2) — Christmas miracles come in many shapes… a lot of times, it’s a box.
“First thing we do is we check the mailbox or we look along the stairs if there are any packages, because that’s always exciting when you receive something,” stated Nathan Kapule, Kaimuki resident.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) delivers hundreds of parcels a day. During the holidays, it can be two to three times as busy, according to USPS Mail Carrier, Kristian Lutu. Since Thanksgiving, it’s processed more than 7.8 billion packages.
“It can get overwhelming, but it’s fun. It’s fulfilling,” stated Lutu. “It’s like we prepared for this from January. I feel like January through November is like practice until we get to December.”
Letter carriers like Lutu will often start and end the day in the dark to make extra parcel deliveries, making sure no presents get left behind.
“We did pick up about 80 more employees to help out with the extra help that we needed to get our packages out in time,” stated Darlette Wong, USPS Holiday Spokesperson. “If it’s mailing within Hawaii, usually we try to get it in overnight, but sometimes like one to two days it’ll get there.”
For those wanting to send presents in time for Christmas, the suggested mail date for Express Mail is Friday, Dec. 20.