The holidays are joyful, exciting, and heart-warming. They are also crazy, chaotic, and stressful. We know! We’ve been helping holidays happen for a long time and we’ve learned some things along the way:

• We’ve learned that even when we decorate for the holidays, not everyone wants to come into a Post Office during our busiest season of the year.
• We’ve learned that people really like being able to conduct their postal business from the comfort of their living room sofa.
• We’ve learned that going online, clicking a few buttons, and then having things delivered to your mailbox or door is about as convenient as it gets.
• We’ve learned that going online to get postage and arranging for your gifts to be picked up eliminates most of the rushing around associated with the holidays.
• We’ve learned that knowing what’s coming in the mail is helpful to just about everyone.

We’ve used this knowledge to create services and solutions to simplify your lives, especially during the hectic holiday season. Here are some services that allow you to remain in your jammies, sip on eggnog, and still get things done.

• Order free boxes. Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express flat rate boxes are available at local Post Office locations and online at usps.com/freeboxes.

• Order postage stamps. All holiday stamps are available online at usps.com.
• Print labels with postage. With Click-N-Ship, you can create shipping labels and pay for postage online. Go to usps.com/ship. We are projecting nearly 500,000 customers will use Click-N-Ship on Dec. 14 to ship packages.
• Get packages picked up. When the carrier delivers your mail, your outgoing packages can be picked up for FREE. Package Pickup is free regardless of the number of packages you’re sending. Pickups can be scheduled at usps.com/pickup.

• Know what’s getting delivered. With our Informed Delivery feature, you can receive text messages or email alerts when a package is coming, notifications when the package has been delivered and daily emails showing what mail will be delivered. Sign up for free services at informeddelivery.com. More than 42 million people have already signed up for the Informed Delivery feature.
• Need a last-minute gift? At the Postal Store on usps.com, you can find more than boxes and stamps. There are greeting cards and note cards — some come with stamps! There are stamp keepsakes. There are post office tents for the little ones to play make-believe and vehicles for them to drive. There are tote bags, ornaments, framed art, toy cars, beach towels, clothes and so much more.

• 24/7 Post Office. usps.com is always open! We are predicting that more than 100 million people will visit usps.com between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

Shipping a gift to a deployed family member or friend this holiday?

The Postal Service is expecting more than 12.6 million pounds of mail for APO/FPO/DPO destinations this holiday season.

To send packages to loved ones serving abroad, the Postal Service offers a discount on its Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box. The $21.15 price includes a $1.50 per box discount for mail sent to APO/FPO/DPO destinations worldwide. Postage, labels, and customs forms can be printed online anytime using Click-N-Ship at usps.com/ship.

The Postal Service has the products and solutions to help you have a less-stressed holiday season.

From our families to yours, we wish you a very happy holiday.