Residents try to lick postal deadlines

Barb and Jim Mullally of Surprise were prepared for a long wait to mail holiday packages on Monday: They stopped to buy coffee along the way.

"I have my eggnog latte," Barb said while waiting in a line that stretched into the lobby at the Surprise main post office. "I heard the lines were going to be long."

By late morning, postal customers had about a 30 minute wait in both Surprise and Sun City West, as customers lined up to mail packages on what is called the busiest shipping day of the year.

"(Monday) lived up to our expectations," said Postmaster Mark Strong, who is in charge of the Sun City, Sun City West and Surprise post offices. "We knew it was going to be the busiest day, and we had lines going out the door most of the day."

"But the lobbies were well-manned, and we encouraged customers to use the automatic postal units as much as we could."

The three post offices were expected to do 20,000 transactions, which is about double on a typical day.

Strong said Monday also was considered a high-delivery day, as well, with an estimated 35,000 parcels delivered in the area on Monday.

"But (Monday) is not going to be the busiest delivery day — that will be Tuesday or Wednesday," Strong said.

The Mullallys said they had made about three trips to the Surprise main post office in the past couple of weeks.

And even though they knew it was going to be busy, going back Monday was necessary to make sure their gifts arrived on time.

"We’re going to Pulhman, Wash., and there is a snowstorm heading that way," Barb said. "We thought we better mail the gifts in case we get delayed."

James Kilgore of Surprise said he has to go to the Surprise post office daily for work.

"This is nothing," he said. "On Saturday I waited 45 minutes."

Over at the Sun City West post office, Joe Kulisch of Sun City West was using a flat-rate box to mail oranges to relatives in Pennsylvania.

"I have been sending oranges for several years because I have 18 grandchildren, seven great-great grandchildren, three daughters, and a half dozen friends," he said.

Jon and Debbie Hobbs of Sun City Grand said they drive to the Sun City West post office to use that facility’s drive-thru window for its convenience.

But on Monday, they had 10 packages to mail, which is double what is limited for the drive-thru lane, which had a stream of cars lined up.

The couple waited 25 minutes to get to the front of the line inside, which they said would still be faster than going to the Surprise post office.

"Most of the packages are going to Alaska, where I was born and raised," Debbie said. "And the rest are going to Maryland, Utah and Washington."

Strong advises postal customers that the deadline is Monday for shipping first class/priority parcels to be received by Dec. 25. Express delivery deadline is Dec. 23.

Customers also may go online to the United Postal Service’s Web site for printing labels and other mailing assistance at: www.usps.com.

Joy Slagowski may be reached at 623-876-2514 or jslagowski@yourwestvalley.com.