Holiday season means high volume for Bigfork post office

It’s Friday morning before 9 a.m. and the Bigfork Post Office is bustling with activity. Rural carriers push flat carts over-laden with packages while others carefully sort letters into their appropriate compartments as Christmas music plays in the back room.

A few crew members have really embraced the holiday season — one woman dons a Santa hat and another is decked out in a Christmas light headband. Though the day has barely begun, out in the lobby, a small line has already begun to form.

For the United States Postal Service, Christmas time means busy season.

“This past Monday, we had 2,551 [parcels], which was probably the most we’ve ever had — and we haven’t even hit our busiest day,” said Bigfork Postmaster Tyler Thompson. He’s expecting up to 3,000 the following Monday.

This week is expected to be the busiest week for mailing, shipping and delivery for the USPS, both online and in person. Nationwide, the postal service anticipates its carriers will deliver 28 million packages per day from Dec. 16-21, and a total of 800 million parcels between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

While the holiday season always means an uptick in parcels, in recent years Thompson has observed an especially dramatic increase.

The Bigfork office now has an Amazon truck that delivers six days a week, and received about 1,000 more parcels Friday than they would have gotten just four years prior. Christmas cards are also on the rise.

“Somebody came in the other day and mailed 250 Christmas cards,” he said. “I thought that was extreme — I’d never seen that. I don’t think that in my career, which is 22 years long, I’ve seen this many Christmas cards.”

Last year business was booming during and beyond the Christmas season.

“Every day was a record day until about the 15th of September,” Thompson said. He credits the increase to the popularity of online shopping which has changed the way they do business.

Routes that were once four to five hours long, now take carriers around nine to complete, and to accommodate the growing demand, the Bigfork Post Office had to bring on an additional carrier. During the holidays, they don’t hire extra seasonal staff but do have substitutes to relieve full-time employees on their days off. Some employees even work extra shifts at the Kalispell office.

“I might have a mail carrier work 21 days in a row,” Thompson noted. “Everybody here, they do back-breaking work at times. There’s no extra pay for harder work. During this time there’s a lot of sore muscles. We’re taking a lot of ibuprofen and trying to keep a smile on our faces.”

In addition to a higher workload, winter also brings challenging delivering conditions thanks to icy roads coupled with the early onset of nightfall.

“The most stressful part definitely is making sure everybody gets home safe every night. That starts in October with our first snow and it doesn’t get any better until al the snow’s gone,” Thompson said.

In exchange for their hard work, carriers often find goodies waiting for them inside mailboxes along their route. Thompson said his crew members have come back with anything from candies to entire sheets of caramel rolls over the years. They often share the spoils with the rest of the crew and once gifted surplus confections to a local family in need.

“They show us a lot of appreciation,” he said. “We hear both sides of it, but for the most part everybody’s very positive.”

Thompson anticipates this coming Friday, Dec. 20, to be one of the busiest days this season. To minimize wait time, he recommends customers have their packages addressed and ready to mail. He also advises folks who need passports to make those appointments outside of the busy holiday season if possible, or they could face an extended wait period.

“Our number one job is to deliver mail and sell postage,” Thompson said. “It’s an institution that’s been around for 200 hundred years and we plan for it to be around a lot longer.” ¦

BREAKOUT

2019 Holiday shipping deadlines

The Postal Service recommends the following mailing and shipping deadlines for expected delivery by Dec. 25 to Air/Army Post Office/Fleet Post Office/Diplomatic Post Office and domestic addresses*:

- Dec. 18 — APO/FPO/DPO (except ZIP Code 093) USPS Priority Mail Express® service

- Dec. 20 — First-Class Mail service (including greeting cards) • Dec. 20 — First-class packages (up to 15.99 ounces) • Dec. 21 — Priority Mail service • Dec. 23 — Priority Mail Express* service **Deadlines have been passed for APO/FRO/DRO priority mail and first-class mail services and USPS retail ground service.

Alaska:

- Dec. 18 — Alaska to mainland First-Class Mail service

- Dec. 19 — Alaska to mainland Priority Mail service • Dec. 21 — Alaska to mainland Priority Mail Express service • Hawaii

- Dec. 19 — Hawaii to mainland Priority Mail and First-Class Mail services

- Dec. 21 — Hawaii to mainland Priority Mail Express service