Thanksgiving came a week later than usual this year, and that means some people probably won’t mail Christmas cards and packages as early as they usually do.

“If anything, people might realize that after Thanksgiving they have only three weeks until Christmas,” said Lawrence Postmaster Bill Reynolds. “We hope people won’t wait until the last minute.”

To be sure Christmas cards and letters are delivered by Dec. 25, get them in the mail no later than Dec. 15, Reynolds said. For packages, Reynolds recommends dropping them off at the post office by Dec. 10.

Nevertheless, Dec. 16 is expected to be the busiest day of the season for postal workers.

“We’ve just completed our arrangements, and we’re trying something new this year,” Reynolds said.

At noon Dec. 9 and Dec. 16, a truck will take a shipment of mail from Lawrence to the regional postal center in Kansas City, Mo., in addition to the usual evening mail shipment, Reynolds said.

“We’d like people to drop off their mail on their way to work instead of on their way from work” on those two days, Reynolds said.

Reynolds recommends that a sheet of paper with the sender’s address and the delivery address be placed inside a package as a backup to the addresses on the outside of the package.

Postal workers like Tim Wales enjoy taking turns decorating the Christmas tree at the main post office at Seventh and Vermont streets. Wales and his co-workers will be swamped with holiday mail in the coming days, especially with a week less between Thanksgiving and Christmas for celebrants to send holiday greetings and gifts.

“If there is any type of damage from an accident, we have people who are allowed to open a package and try to determine where it is supposed to be sent,” Reynolds said.

The budget won’t allow temporary or extra workers to be hired to help out this year at Lawrence’s two post offices, Reynolds said.

But Reynolds noted most Kansas University students leave town over the holidays, and handling the mail for other residents with existing employees shouldn’t be a problem.

First-class Christmas cards and letters to be mailed to overseas military personnel with APO or FPO addresses should be dropped off by Dec. 11, Reynolds said. The parcel airlift deadline is Dec. 4.

¢ 6News video: Holiday mail may come at the last minute¢U.S. Postal Service