Daily printout: Dec. 11

The Postal Service expects the week of Dec. 15-21 to be the busiest of the year as employees accept, process and deliver millions of holiday cards and packages.

In a news release this week, the organization listed its preparations for the season, including:

• Installing more than 600 package sorters since 2020, including 94 this year. The machines have increased daily processing capacity to 88 million from 60 million.

• Updating service standards so that USPS can better process and deliver mail and packages within the same region. These enhancements now have a 2-day or 3-day service standard, which means local consumers and businesses can send holiday mail in a region more quickly and reliably.

• Rolling out new delivery vehicles, with more than 36,000 received so far. The organization expects to acquire a total of 106,480 new vehicles, including 66,000 zero-emission electric vehicles, demonstrating its commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility while ensuring reliable service.

• Opening almost 200 processing facilities nationwide during the past four years, including sites in Dallas, Phoenix and other cities in 2025. The new facilities will ensure the Postal Service has the space needed to process additional holiday volume and better serve customers year-round.

• Hiring 14,000 seasonal employees — down from 40,000 just a few years ago as the organization develops a more stable workforce.

• Providing convenient and affordable products and services, such as USPS Ground Advantage, Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express.

Additionally, the Postal Service has announced its holiday service schedule.

Post Offices will be closed Christmas Day (Thursday, Dec. 25) and New Year’s Day (Thursday, Jan. 1).

All Post Offices will be open, and regular mail delivery will resume, on Friday, Dec. 26, and Friday, Jan. 2.

The Postal Service’s holiday stamps aren’t limited to this year’s releases; you can also buy seasonal stamps from the past few years. Here’s a look at what’s available on usps.com and at many Post Offices:

• Christmas Madonna and Child. This 2024 stamp features an oil painting from the workshop of the 17th-century Italian artist Giovanni Battista Salvi, known as “Sassoferrato.”

• Hanukkah. This 2024 stamp features an ink drawing of a hanukkiah, the nine-branch candelabra used during the holiday.

• Hanukkah. The 2022 version of this stamp features an abstract original wall hanging of a hanukkiah.

• Holiday Cheer. These 2025 stamps feature four festive images that evoke the color and life of the season.

• Holiday Joy. These four 2024 stamps show folk-art inspired digital illustrations of flowers and ornaments.

• Kwanzaa. This 2024 stamp, inspired by a live performance, shows a male drummer and two female dancers and is rendered in the colors of the Pan-African flag.

• Kwanzaa. The 2022 version of this stamp depicts an image of a girl and boy facing a kinara — a seven-stem candelabra that represents the holiday’s seven founding principles.

• Poinsettia. This global Forever stamp from 2018 features a photograph of a poinsettia taken from above with green leaves, red bracts and yellow flowers.

• Virgin and Child. This stamp from 2022 features an oil-on-panel painting from the first half of the 16th century by an unidentified Florentine artist known as the Master of the Scandicci Lamentation. 

• Winter Landscapes. These 2025 stamps showcase the serenity of snow with five photographs of frozen scenes.

• Winter Whimsy. These 2024 stamps include four different digitally rendered snowflake designs that evoke hand-cut paper snowflakes.

• Winter Woodland Animals. These stylized, graphic stamps from 2023 depict four beloved animals that live in the woods of North America.

Additionally, a variety of stamp-related postal products are available at usps.com.