It’s almost exactly the time of year when people panic becausethey haven’t yet sent their Christmas cards, presents, and otherholiday greetings for the season.

United States Postal Service Communications Specialist Doug Kylesaid while many of the military mailing deadlines have passed,there’s still plenty of time to get your holiday mail to itsdesired destination.

Kyle said Monday will be the biggest mail day of the year, andthat local and state post offices are readying for the rush.

“In some of the larger cities we try to collect some of the mailon Sunday, then send it out and do the collections early in the dayon Monday to get that into the processing channels,” he said.

The bulk of the mail is greeting cards and stamped envelopes,Kyle said.

On a normal Monday, the Jackson processing plant averages about270,000 pieces of mail. This coming Monday, officials are expecting760,000, which Kyle pointed out is almost triple an averageMonday.

“My best advice to mailing customers is to get your stuff in themail Friday and Saturday,” he said.

The fact that Monday will be so packed has very little effect ondelivery times, though, Kyle said.

“Of course Wednesday will be our heaviest delivery day of theyear,” he said. “Most of the mail will reach its destination withinthe normal amount of time, or at the most, a day more.”

Part of what has made the bulk so manageable in recent years isstate-of-the-art mail equipment that can scan 10-11 letters persecond.

“That means it can process 36,000 to 40,000 letters in just anhour’s time,” Kyle said. “The way things have advanced, now 80percent of the mail is already in order for the carriers to deliverit, which allows us to deliver that much more mail in the sameamount of time.”

Even with the technology in place, Kyle pointed out that postalcustomers may still want to get their mailing done ahead oftime.

If not, though, it can be done as late as Dec. 22 and still bedelivered by Christmas. He said priority mail should be sent by theDec. 20, and express mail should be sent by Dec. 22.

“We’ll be the only shipper of choice that delivers on Christmasday. Someone will be on call in smaller post offices, so if expressmail comes in on Christmas day, it will be delivered,” he said.

Kyle said another great option is www.usps.com, where customerscan mail their own packages regardless of when the post officeopens and closes.

“Then call us and we’ll even come pick up your package,” hesaid. “You don’t even have to leave your house.”

And while rain, sleet, hail, and snow can’t stop the UnitedStates Postal Service, it is also impervious to a consumer’s lackof planning. Kyle said even if you haven’t bought Christmas cards,there’s an option for you with the post office’s onlineservices.

“We have an online card store where you can upload your addresslist and send cards out,” he said. “And then if you want to dropgift cards in there, you can do that too, because we have about 30different national merchants you can choose from. If you don’t knowwhat you want to send there’s something for everyone and we’ll doit all for you.”