Utica — Did you get a notice left in your mailbox that there is a package waiting for you at the Post Office?  That will be a quick stop for Utica residents as the Postal Service offers extra hours starting this Sunday for pickups of packages where a resident has already received a notice that delivery was attempted.

Residents bringing the familiar ‘left notice’ slips can visit the main lobby of the Utica Post Office at 100 Pitcher Street between 9 am and 1 pm on Sunday December 6, 13 and 20 to claim packages.  Stamp sales, only, will also be provided.

Regional postal officials note that package deliveries will continue throughout the weekend, including Sundays across the Mohawk Valley, as holiday package volumes continue to swell.   The Postal Service anticipates 5 million packages will be delivered every Sunday during December.  Packages with a previously-attempted delivery, and a notice already left for the consumer, are not delivered on Sundays.  

Monday, December 21, is expected to be the busiest delivery day for holiday packages, cards and letters. The Postal Service anticipates that more than 30 million packages will be delivered on the peak delivery day alone.

The Postal Service expects to deliver a total of approximately 15.5 billion cards, letters, flats, and packages during the 2015 holiday season. In addition, they are projecting approximately 600 million packages will be delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, which is an increase of 10.5 percent over last year’s volume.

In time for the holidays, the Postal Service will offer real-time delivery notifications – meaning customers who sign up for alerts at myusps.com will receive notification within a few minutes of the delivery scan for select packages.

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