How the USPS makes billions of holiday deliveries

From Santa’s workshop to the Small Delivery Unit Package Sorter.

The massive contraption, which can pump out about 3,300 packages an hour, commands a sizable footprint at the Naperville Mail Facility.

“See the wires coming down?” USPS communications specialist Tim Norman asked Thursday, pointing to the machine during a media tour.

“It scans the labels and then (parcels) go down the conveyor belt and drop into (bins for) whatever route corresponds with that address.”

The technical assist is crucial because the U.S. Postal Service anticipates delivering more than 10 billion letters, holiday cards and packages during the Christmas season.

“It just gets busier and busier,” Norman said, citing a real-time tracker that shows more than 2.38 billion items already accepted as of Thursday afternoon.

Demand “increases by 60% after Thanksgiving,” Naperville Postmaster Choyia Ben said, ticking off a list of deliveries. “Toys, Christmas trees, furniture, holiday cards — and kids writing to Santa.”

The high-tech sorter is one of 506 deployed across the nation at busy locations like Naperville, which has about 100 routes.

It’s a strategic investment in local postal facilities that allows workers to process packages swiftly and more efficiently, officials said. Across the nation, the USPS can send about 60 million packages on the way daily using the new machines.

Waiting in the Naperville center were thousands of parcels, some lovingly wrapped and addressed by hand before being posted from North Dakota, Washington D.C., Florida and elsewhere.

That emotional connection is what can make walking up to mailboxes in December a sweet experience, despite frigid temperatures Thursday, longtime carrier Joseph Michaelsen said.

“Coming up to people’s houses when they’re waiting for a gift, it’s always a feel-good situation,” he said.

With over three decades of experience, carrier Tom Bishop has seen his share of interesting packages.

“Generally later in the spring, we deliver coconuts from Hawaii,” he said. There’s also been “workout weights, tires and rims for cars, bumpers. I’ve delivered live chicks. I’ve delivered bees.”

And, “occasionally we get cremated remains of family and pets, so there’s respect you have to show to the parcel.”

He’s also delivered kids who fell off bikes back to their homes, picked up seniors who slipped on icy driveways, and pulled a dog walker out of a snowbank.

“You’re part of the neighborhood, part of the fabric of the community,” Bishop explained.

The Postal Service is also busy conveying letters to the North Pole this month and running the Operation Santa program. Anyone can “adopt” a letter and help fulfill kids’ and families’ wishlists through Dec. 16. For information, go to uspsoperationsanta.com.