If you are busy shopping for all your out-of-town loved ones, time’s ticking away for you to mail them through the United States Postal Service for a pre-Christmas arrival.

“I’d recommend you mail, the sooner the better,” said acting Postmaster Christy Ratliff. “I’d ask everyone to be patient with each other. The holiday season hit around the week before Thanksgiving, so I’d say, please be patient.”

Ratliff suggested packing things with care, especially fragile items, and get them to the post office in a timely manner.

She also suggested using the USPS’s program called “Click ‘n Ship.” Postal customers can go to USPS.com and create an account that will allow them to print shipping labels, request a package pickup, buy stamps, manage post office boxes, print custom forms online and file domestic claims.

“With ‘Click ‘n Ship,’ a customer can just go online, pay the postage, print it out, put it on the package and request for it to be picked up,” Ratliff said. “We pick it up the next morning and send it off and it’s on it’s way. That way you don’t even have to come to a post office to mail your items.”

She said the USPS had been providing this service for a while and home businesses have really taken advantage of the convenience. “Just remember to pay your postage and have it on the package, ready before pickup, except for flat rate boxes, which are the same for everyone,” Ratliff said.

The USPS recommends the following guidelines for send-by dates within the contiguous (lower 48) United States:

• Dec. 15: USPS Retail Ground® Service
• Dec. 17: First-Class Mail® Service
• Dec. 18: Priority Mail® Service
• Dec. 23: Priority Mail Express® Service2

Ratliff also wanted the public to know that much like any other business in the nation, the USPS needs more workers.

“We are hiring!” she said enthusiastically. “Go to USPS.com and apply today.”