If you’re worried that your package will be delayed during the holiday season, don’t fret, says the United States Postal Service. With the USPS’ Santa Clarita Processing and Distribution Center processing millions of pieces of mail a day in its 602,000-square-foot Valencia Commerce Center facility, one might consider it the Costco of mail.
According to Lawrence Engler, executive plant manager, the facility is responsible for 35,000 square miles, often sorting parcels and mail to be sent throughout the country.
Thanksgiving week, and the following week, evidently due to events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, are the busiest, according to Engler.
“Everything will be gone in a day,” Engler confidently said, adding that the busiest times on a given day are 8 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. Packages are usually cleared out by 9 a.m.
With 850 people currently employed at the local facility, and 7,500 set to be hired nationwide for seasonal work, 220 million pieces of mail, including letters, flats, magazines and parcels, were processed at the Santa Clarita plant last holiday season.
On average, 9 million pieces of mail are handled, with an average of 500,000 parcels sorted throughout the day.
The large facility includes 32 robots that bring the mail, then dispatch it, along with many types of machines to ensure that all packages and letters that enter are sorted thoroughly.
There are five parcel sorters at the facility: one Automated Package Processing System, three Automated Parcel Bundle Sorters and one Small Package Sorting System.
According to Engler, the facility processes up to 10,000 packages an hour, 20 times faster than manual processing; it runs 22 hours a day, with the other two hours used for maintenance.
The APBS and SPSS machines process 6,000 packages an hour, 12 times faster than manual processing, but the latter is mostly used to fill up sacks for air travel. APPS and ASBS machines place packages in cardboard boxes, which are used for ground travel, with labeled ZIP codes.
Other systems at the facility include a Delivery Barcode Sorter, which can sort around 4 million deliverable letters a day, as well as a Low Cost Universal Sorter, a manual sorter for bigger packages, while also allowing employees to scan packages to ship.
Once a package requiring a flight is scanned, a spot on the flight is booked, and the package is sent out to Los Angeles International Airport. While the pieces of mail may be considered First-Class, the process is not the definition of luxury — up to 100,000 letters and packages can be put on a single flight, depending on the aircraft model, according to Engler.
When the packages are sorted and ready to be shipped out, they are often labeled by a QR code that is scanned at any step of the way. These packages are “married” to the code, according to Engler, to make the process efficient.
With over 48 years of service, Engler discussed that while trends have changed, it’s still an exciting time to work in the industry.
“I’ve ridden the rise of the letters, when letters were the king and going down, getting replaced by remittance, electronic processing. Now parcels are a huge part of our business — it’s an exciting time to be here,” Engler said. “Letters have gone down, but people still love the value of the mail. People save [those letters]. I still like going out to the mailbox every day.”
According to Engler, parcel volume has exploded in recent years.
“Nationwide, [we have] roughly 19% more parcels this year than last year, and that’s the confidence that the public has in us and the products because people still love to mail things,” Engler said. “I want people to know that we never shut down. It’s a great place to work for me. My wife is a past postmaster. I put four kids through college. I’ve traveled all over the country and dealt with international posts.”
While it’s rare for packages and letters to get lost in the system, USPS recommends early shipping by the following dates for Christmas delivery:
- First class mail, card and letters: Dec. 18.
- Priority packages: Dec. 19.
- Priority express: Dec. 21.
In addition, customers are strongly encouraged by USPS to follow the following tips:
- Send mail and packages early.
- Use online shipping tools like Click-N-Ship.
- Stay informed with Informed Delivery.
- Ship Safely — do not mail mercury and other hazardous materials.
For more information, visit www.usps.com.
