Gifts shipped by Friday can still arrive by Christmas

There’s still time to send those last-minute Christmas presents.

“If you absolutely wait to the last moment to send Express Mail, you can mail your packages on the 23rd express to have a guaranteed delivery by or on Christmas,” said Gene Barton, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service in Las Vegas and a former mail carrier.

“Anything else after that — I’ve known things to still make it, but the volume is just so high that we can’t guarantee delivery by or on Christmas after that.”

Last-minute present shippers also have until Friday with UPS next-day air service.

“But make sure to specify that the package is for Saturday delivery, or else it won’t arrive until the next business day,” said UPS spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg.

UPS and the U.S. Postal Service are running at full speed, expecting more than 1.3 billion packages out for holiday delivery combined.

Making those deliveries is why this time of year is “the best time of year to work,” Barton said.

“I used to feel a little bit like Santa Claus,” he said, as he delivered presents often to children waiting with their parents at the door, excited to see their packages arrive.

This time of year is also the most colorful for postal workers, he said — literally.

Postal workers drive trucks loaded with festively wrapped boxes and dole out brightly colored envelopes from their mail bins.

“When we see one that’s wrapped with the Christmas wrapping, it’s a little more sensitive than normal packing paper, so they are careful with those.”

Barton said the Postal Service hired 40,000 people nationally to help with the holiday season, with about 100 people extra just for all of Las Vegas.

UPS hired about 95,000 seasonal workers nationally. Rosenberg said UPS hired about 500 seasonal workers in all of Nevada, “mostly as delivery helpers who ride on vehicles with our drivers, or who are positioned in fast-growth neighborhoods to complete residential deliveries. Some are loaders or sorters in our package operations.”

For all of those extra pairs of hands, your package will be touched by only four or five people as it travels around the country. Between you and your package’s final destination lies a sophisticated network of conveyor belts.

Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @JournalistNikki on Twitter.