Patrons pack post offices just days before Christmas

’Twas the Monday before Christmas … and plenty of creatures were stirring at Vancouver’s main U.S. Postal Service facility on Caples Avenue.

Likewise, at all public and contracted postal service centers across Clark County.

On what typically is the single busiest mailing day in America — some 800 million holiday cards, letters and packages were expected to be processed Monday — crowds did keep local postal workers hopping.

Vancouver Postmaster Sara Lovendahl and others leaped into the fray, helping patrons choose the best options and to operate automated kiosks that can greatly speed up service.

Lovendahl said the day went pretty smoothly, thanks to patrons’ own good planning.

“(Volume) was about the same as last Monday’s,” she said. “I’ve got to say, the customers really got ahead of it.”

There were high marks for civility, too.

“The customers are great this time of year, for the most part, pretty jolly,” Lovendahl said.

There’s still time for procrastinators, although Mother Nature has been known to play the spoiler’s role.

Today is the last day patrons can reliably ship priority mail to East Coast addresses and still have it arrive by Christmas Eve, Lovendahl said. Wednesday is the final day for shipping priority mail across normal, two-day territory.

“I suggest everybody mail by (today). You never know about the weather,” she said.

Normal mail service extends only through Friday. Employees will deliver only express mail on Saturday, Christmas Day.

Residents who receive notice of a shipped package held at the Caples branch or the east Vancouver DCU facility, 401 N.E. 136th Ave., have until 4 p.m. Friday to pick up items.

Other USPS centers in Orchards, Cascade Park and downtown Vancouver shut down retail operations at noon Friday.