Postal Service Says Its Ready To Deliver This Holiday Season With New, Faster Sorting Machines

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - If you had trouble getting cards and packages delivered on time last year, U.S. Postal Service insists it won't let you down this holiday season.

The USPS Fort Worth distribution center is one of three in North Texas that have new sorting machines.

One-hundred and twelve are installed throughout the country and will speed up the process of shipping.

"They can actually do 3,000 packages an hour, about 12 times faster than it would be by manual sorting so we are ready," says Albert Ruiz, USPS Strategic Communications Specialist.

Last December, the Postal Service delivered a record 1.1 billion packages and the number this holiday season will be close to that.

"We normally we start planning for our peak season in the summer, this year we actually began back in February and March," says Ruiz.

Six-hundred of the 40,000 seasonal employees hired nationwide work out of three North Texas distribution centers.

The new sorting machines are part of a 10-year plan to improve the postal service called Delivering for America.

For those who plan to use USPS for shipping during the holidays, Wednesday, Dec. 15 is the last day to ship by ground if you want it to arrive before Christmas.

Friday, Dec. 17, is the last day to send greeting cards, and Saturday, Dec. 18 for priority package shipping.