The U.S. Postal Service is ready to deliver more than 28 million packages daily between Dec. 16-21.

With a projected 800 million package deliveries between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the Postal Service will deliver more packages to homes than any other shipper.

The Postal Service will expand Sunday delivery beginning Nov. 24 to locations with high package volumes. USPS already delivers packages on Sundays in most major cities and anticipates delivering more than 8 million packages on Sundays in December.

The busiest time will be two weeks before Christmas. Customer traffic is expected to increase beginning Dec. 9, while the week of Dec. 16 will be the busiest for mailing, shipping and delivery.

The Postal Service predicts that nearly 2.5 billion pieces of first-class mail, including greeting cards, will be processed and delivered the week of Dec. 16.

Ship online

Consumers can use usps.com to ship their packages and save trips to the post office.

The Click-N-Ship feature and other online services lets individuals order free Priority Mail boxes, print shipping labels, purchase postage stamps and request free next-day package pickup.

Deadlines

The suggested mailing dates are:

* Dec. 11, APO/priority mail military and first class mail.

*Dec. 14, USPS retail ground.

* Dec. 20, first class mail, including greeting cards.

*Dec. 21, priority mail.

*Dec. 23, priority express mail.

Cards of Fountain Hills

The USPS contract station at Cards of Fountain Hills in Fountainside Plaza, 12645 Saguaro Blvd., suite 6, is an alternative to the main post office.

Lines are usually shorter at the location in the rear of the store.

Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Owner Suzanne Buck said her staff can fill all postal needs with supplies of priority boxes, mailing supplies and stamps.

Buck said she already has refilled orders for Christmas stamps. New this year is a set of four stamps depicting holiday wreaths. Stamps introduced in previous years are available.

Stamps are sold in books of 20 for $11.