POST OFFICE LAUNCHES BUSIEST WEEK OF YEAR

Cape Girardeau Postmaster Michael Keefe feels a little like Santa Claus these days -- delivering Christmas packages, cards and letters.

This is one of the busiest weeks of the year for the post office.

"We'll probably have twice as much mail every day as we usually have," Keefe said of the week preceding Christmas.

Normally, the Cape Girardeau Post Office delivers 75,000 pieces of mail each day; this week, postal workers are delivering 150,000 or more pieces daily.

"That's about eight to 10 pieces of mail for each household in our delivery area," Keefe said.

Postal workers are logging 10- and 12-hour shifts to make sure packages and letters get delivered before Christmas.

Regular deliveries are planned through Christmas eve.

"We will also be delivering Express Mail on Christmas Day," Keefe said. The carrier who will deliver holiday packages on Christmas Day will dress up as Santa Claus.

Extra trucks are on the roads to and from St. Louis and Memphis keeping the mail moving.

Like their competitors, postal employees are delivering parcels each evening "until they get them done," Keefe said.

Monday was the busiest day for mail all year.

"The way the holiday fell on a Sunday made everyone feel they could still finish Christmas cards over the weekend and mail them Monday," the postmaster said.

Those letters and cards mailed Monday should reach their destinations before Christmas.

"We're kind of Christmas to a lot of people," he said. "If you are sending a package to grandma or to a grandson, you are sending a little bit of Christmas."

Keefe, who has been Cape Girardeau postmaster for eight years, said this is the busiest year he has seen for parcels. "We're inundated," he said.

On a normal day, the post office receives three or four containers of packages; Monday, the post office received 20.

Cards and letters mailed today should arrive before Christmas. "It depends on where they are going," said Keefe. "Locally, it should be no problem," he said.

The postmaster expects volume to trail off as the weekend approaches. He called it a lull before the storm. Next week he expects to be nearly as busy as mailers rush to beat a postage increase.

Keefe has to savor his Christmas spirit because after the holidays he said he feels more like the Grinch -- delivering credit-card bills and tax forms.