WASHINGTON — Looking to reduce the stress of the holiday season? Visit the world’s largest Post Office: m.usps.com, the mobile version of usps.com.  

“We’re making it easier for customers to manage their mailing and shipping needs during the busiest time of the year,” said U.S. Postal Service Chief Customer and Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President Jim Cochrane, “With Informed Delivery you can track your packages and check your mail from anywhere. Virtually anything you would do at a Post Office, you can now do online at USPS.com.”

A sampling of in-person options available for customers visiting traditional Post Offices is the ability to obtain money orders and submit passport applications.

During fiscal year 2017 (Oct. 1, 2016-Sept. 30, 2017) the world’s largest Post Office conducted more than 54 million transactions. On an average day, nearly 3 million customers visit the nation’s brick and mortar Post Offices while more than 2 million customers visit usps.com. Dec. 18 is expected to be the busiest day for usps.com, with 7 million projected visits.

More than 15 billion pieces of mail will be delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. This includes 850 million packages — a more than 10 percent increase over last year. The busiest mailing, shipping and delivery week of the year will be Dec. 18-24.  

At the world’s largest Post Office, customers can purchase stamps, calculate postage, mail packages and conduct virtually any service offered at brick-and-mortar Post Offices:  

• Buy Stamps and Mailing Supplies — Visit the Postal Store to purchase stamps and order free shipping supplies, including boxes.
• Calculate Postage — The postage price calculator provides estimates for mailing packages, domestically or internationally.
• Ship Packages — Use Click-N-Shipas a stress-free tool to pay postage and print shipping labels for holiday gifts from a mobile device or desktop computer. Customers can register on the Click-N-Ship sign-in page to start creating shipping labels and pay for postage online.
• Schedule a Free Package Pickup — Schedule a free pickup and carriers will pick up packages during regular mail delivery. Letter carriers pick up shipments for customer using an expedited service such as Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, First-Class Package Service, International or a Return Service. Multiple pickups can be requested when a usps.com account is created.
• Ship Internationally — Make international shipping easier when printing a shipping label from home. Use the built-in address form to transfer information into country-specific customs forms.  
• Track Packages — Easily receive incoming package updates with real-time delivery notifications within a few minutes of the delivery scan for select packages. Customers can request package email notifications and alerts and schedule a redelivery.
• Hold Mail — Going away for the holidays? Take advantage of the request Hold Mail Service. All mail is kept safely at the local Post Office until the recipient returns.
• Forward Mail — For a fee, mail can be held, packaged and shipped weekly by Priority Mail using Premium Forwarding Service.

The Post Office on your Smartphone
Customers can do all of this — all from the comfort of their homes or on the go — by going to usps.com, or downloading the USPS Mobile app on iOS or Android devices to put these services right at their fingertips.

Informed Delivery
The Postal Service offers a new feature this year to help manage incoming mail and package deliveries. Informed Delivery is an innovative feature that not only allows customers to digitally preview their letter-sized mail, but also track and reschedule package deliveries to ensure someone is able to be home to receive them.

Email notifications and the Informed Delivery dashboard and mobile app include images of letter-sizes mail and color images from participating mailers. Package tracking information on Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail and other parcels is available through the Informed Delivery dashboard and mobile app now — and will be added to email notifications this month. Visit informeddelivery.usps.com for additional information and limitations.

Customers can find mail by dates for domestic, international and APO/FPO/DPO packages, get helpful tips to prepare shipments and additional news and updates throughout the season at the USPS Holiday Newsroom.       

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.

More USPS holiday news, including shipping deadlines and Santa mail, can be found at usps.com/holidaynews.

For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please go to about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf. Follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/usps), Instagram (instagram.com/uspostalservice), Pinterest (pinterest.com/uspsstamps), LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/usps), subscribe to our channel on YouTube (youtube.com/usps), like us on Facebook (facebook.com/usps) and view our Postal Posts blog (uspsblog.com).

For more information about the Postal Service, visit usps.com and usps.com/postalfacts.