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Post office offers time-saving tips for holiday shipping

2 min read

This holiday, the U.S. Postal Service is giving you something you can really use. More time. Do all your shipping and more online. Pay postage and print shipping labels. Order flat-rate boxes, the ultimate gift box. Check holiday mailing dates. All at a time and day convenient to you. Here are some time-saving tips and free service to help make the holidays a little brighter.

– Free package pickup. 

Don’t fight Mother Nature. Stay inside and let the Postal Service do what it does best-pick up and deliver mail. Prepare Priority Mail and Express Mail packages then notify the Postal Service online at usps.com/pickup that they’re ready to be picked up. Free package pickup is available from home or office, regardless of the weather. Unlike other shipping companies, there is no fee for this service.

– Freee co-friendly boxes and envelopes. 

Send a very “green” holiday message across town or around the world when sending Priority Mail and Express Mail packages and envelopes. The U.S. Postal Service is the only mailing or shipping company in the nation to achieve “Cradle to Cradle” Certification for human and environmental health. These supplies are 100-percent recycleable. To make it even easier, the same box can be used for domestic or international mail.

– Free shipping supplies. 

Tape, labels, international mailing products, even customs forms are available online at usps.com-at no charge. Choose from a variety of Priority Mail and Express Mail envelopes and packages, including the popular flat-rate box, and Priority Mail boxes for mailing videos, DVDs or CDs. Stop wasting time searching for a cardboard box or abandoned shoe box. Everything you need is online and can be shipped to your home or office.

– Free military Care Kits. 

The Postal Service has created a special mailing and shipping kit designed specifically for military families sending packages overseas. Each Care Kit contains two Priority Mail boxes, six Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes, eight Priority Mail labels, one roll of Priority Mail tape and eight customs forms with envelopes. Call 1-800-610-8734 and ask for the Care Kit.

Mr. Zip’s Tip: Postal Service money orders are a safe, easy alternative to sending cash through the mail.  They can be purchased at any Post Office, or from any rural letter carrier, and are available in values up to $1,000.