When you click "Confirm Order," do you think about how those Christmas gifts will make it to your door?
Before you wrap the presents and place them under the tree, chances are several package delivery workers have touched that pile of boxes on your front porch.
"This is our season," said Jefferson City Postmaster Jason Hirschvogel. "We're primed and ready to go, and the carriers anticipate what they have to go through to get the job done."
Getting the job done becomes more complicated when the number of packages to be delivered multiplies.
The U.S. Postal Service delivered more than 29,000 packages to Jefferson City area homes and post office boxes just last week, Hirschvogel said. The local postal service's parcel numbers are up 30 percent over this time last year.
A significant portion of that growth can be attributed to USPS's arrangement with Amazon, which has partnered with the postal service to deliver merchandise on Sundays as part of its two-day delivery promise to Amazon Prime members. (Amazon also offers a Sunday delivery option to non-Prime subscribers for an added fee.)
The post office at 1750 Jefferson St. began making Sunday deliveries about eight weeks ago at about 300-400 packages on a Sunday, Hirschvogel said. Over the last two Sundays, that number has stacked up closer to 1,200.
"I've seen more parcels this year than I've seen come through the postal service in a long time," Hirschvogel said. "The next two weeks are just going to be exuberant with packages."
He predicts the postal service's busiest delivery days will be next week, primarily between Dec. 17-19, as people wrap up their online Christmas shopping. "With Christmas being on a Friday, you're going to see the 21st through the 24th being extremely heavy as well," he added.
The upped ante for USPS means a few more logistical considerations, too.
The local post office has not made major staffing adjustments, but non-career employees are picking up the new and booming Sunday deliveries while career employees maintain their regular schedules, Hirschvogel said.
Plus, the roomy USPS delivery van isn't Santa's magic toy bag. Even on regular delivery days, it may not fit the full load of parcels to be distributed.
"We like to consolidate it into one trip, but we do whatever's necessary to get it delivered that day. ... A lot of times we can help supplement with our non-career people to go out and make individual parcel runs," Hirschvogel said. "A lot of times it just means longer days and longer hours that they have to spend delivering packages."
The United Parcel Service also has managed a busy holiday season so far this year.
"Our store ships out over twice as many packages in December than the average of other months," said local UPS Store owner Michael Baxa. "Our staff also runs additional hours to accommodate the increased shipping volume. We have to make adjustments to our supply order volume to accommodate the increased amount of boxes and material needed to pack customers' items."
UPS predicts its busiest shipping day of the year will be Dec. 14. "It's usually the Monday of the week prior to the week before Christmas," Baxa said.
But the holiday home stretch does not keep delivery service employees from filling their own gift lists by shopping online - even if they're the ones who might end up distributing them.
"This is our season. I don't believe that hinders them because a lot of times we have to go online to get the good stuff," Hirschvogel said. "Anything they can do to help the postal service, I'm sure they are all willing and able."
To ensure packages are delivered in time for Christmas, USPS recommends shipping First-Class Mail and Priority Mail parcels no later than Dec. 20 and Priority Mail Express parcels no later than Dec. 23. Normal delivery days will continue through Christmas Eve, and post offices will be closed on Christmas Day.
UPS recommends shipping UPS Ground Shipping packages no later than Dec. 15 to ensure their delivery by Christmas, with UPS 3 Day Select packages shipped by Dec. 18, UPS 2nd Day Air packages by Dec. 22 and UPS Next Day Air packages by Dec. 23. Normal delivery of Air, international Air, UPS Standard and UPS Ground packages will continue on Christmas Even, and there will be no UPS pickup or delivery service on Christmas Day.