POSTAL SERVICE FACES ANNUAL RUSH; CAPE CENTER'S WORKLOAD ALMOST DOUBLE THIS WEEK

No one delivers as many Christmas greetings as the Postal Service. Not even Santa Claus.

The Christmas holiday season is the busiest time of year for the nation's post offices, and this is their busiest week.

The Cape Girardeau Post Office this week is receiving about 200,000 pieces a day of incoming mail for Cape Girardeau residents.

That is about 85,000 to 90,000 more pieces than is typically received daily during the year, said Matthew Peters, customer services manager.

Eighty percent of the mail this week is Christmas cards, he said.

In addition, the post office daily is handling 1,200 to 1,400 incoming parcels and another 900 to 1,000 outgoing parcels.

"I had six people running parcels all day Sunday," said Peters.

Nearly 50 carriers are working 10-hour days to deliver all the holiday mail.

"We have been busy," he said as he watched customers line up at the Frederick Street post office Tuesday afternoon to mail packages and Christmas cards. "I think it will be busy all week," said Peters.

Across town, the Postal Service's regional processing center has been swamped with holiday mail.

"Last night was probably our busiest night of the season," said the center's Wayne Warner.

The center canceled about 375,000 pieces of mail, mostly Christmas cards. The mail was then shipped to various post offices for delivery.

The center serves the entire Southeast Missouri region from Ste. Genevieve to Poplar Bluff. Typically, the center cancels about 120,000 to 150,000 letters a night.

"Everybody thinks of their mailman working during the day time," said Warner. "But as far as processing, all of our work is done at night."

The center employs 150 people. But without automation, it would be hard for the center to keep up with all the mail, he said.

Warner and Peters said their facilities have handled more mail this Christmas season than a year ago.

Peters said people should mail their cards and packages by Saturday if they want them to arrive by Christmas.

But for those last-minute cards and presents, there is always Express Mail. In Cape Girardeau a mailman dressed as Santa delivers Express Mail on Christmas Day. The Cape Girardeau Post Office began Santa deliveries about five years ago.

In addition to all the other holiday mail, the post office gets its share of letters addressed to Santa at the North Pole.

Peters said employees at the post office used to answer the letters. Circle K, a student group at Southeast Missouri State University, is handling the task this year.

As of Tuesday, the group had answered about 30 letters and still had some 45 more to answer.

Circle K's Amy Lewis said the group's members respond by letter, telling the boys and girls that Santa is busy making toys and that he wishes them a Merry Christmas.

The letters are signed by "elves."

She said children write cute letters to Santa.

One child circled pictures of toys on an advertising circular and mailed it to Santa.

Another child wrote to Santa Claus on Icicle Avenue at the North Pole and included a zip code.

"They are getting pretty creative with them," said Lewis.