Last big wave to ship floods Myrtle Beach area post offices

The lines at post offices around the Grand Strand grew steadily Friday and Saturday as last-minute letters, cards and gifts were shipped for Christmas.

Expect lines again today.

More than 800 million packages are expected to come through post offices nationwide today, making it the busiest day of the year for the United States Postal Service.

That's about 40 percent more than the average daily volume of 559 million pieces of mail processed and 140 million more than the average processed daily during the Christmas season, according to Postal Service figures.

"We project [today] will be our last hoorah of the Christmas season," said Gerry Mulligan, the manager of customer service at the Carolina Forest post office. "After Monday, we'll slow down."

Today is the recommended deadline for greeting cards and letters to arrive in time for Christmas, the Postal Service said.

Tuesday is the deadline for packages to be sent via priority mail, and Wednesday is the final deadline for Express Mail.

Plenty of last-minute shoppers are flooding post offices along the Grand Strand.

Todd Lee, postmaster for the Myrtle Beach post office, said daily revenue rises dramatically near Christmas.

That's because most customers are shipping larger packages instead of the daily regimen of cards and letters the office sees.

"We probably see a 200 percent increase from a typical week of the year," Lee said.

Lee and Mulligan said lines ranged from eight to 15 people at a time over the past few days. Though Lee couldn't provide specific figures, he said his office has seen an uptick in business from 2009. Mulligan said business "seemed about the same, maybe a little more than last year."

Harry Spratlin, communications coordinator for the Postal Service in South Carolina, said the agency is sensitive to long lines.

It has created a new service called "Click N Ship," which allows customers to use a major credit card, generate a postage-paid label online and notify a carrier for free pickup.

The postal service doesn't hire seasonal employees at its branches, but often employs more at the regional distribution plants, Spratlin said. Some employees log more overtime hours during this period, and Lee said employees who often aren't used for customer service work different tasks during the busy Christmas season.

"We've been pretty fortunate that we've been able to move lines pretty quickly," he said. "And that's something we want to continue."