Post office bustling on busiest mailing day of 2015

BELLMAWR, N.J. (WPVI) -- Packages. Letters. Presents.

The post office in Bellmawr, New Jersey was bustling Monday - the busiest mailing day of the year.

From the post office window, whether the parcel is heading to Moorestown or Montana, its journey will take it through the South Jersey Processing and Distribution Center.

It's there in Bellmawr where all the mail originating from or destined for the five South Jersey zip codes will be processed.

Senior District Plant Manager David W. Robinson says on your typical Monday, 500,000 letters come through. On Monday, that number jumped to 1.2 million. And that's not including packages.

"We go back and look at the last time [Christmas] fell on a Friday and we have a pretty good idea historically this will be the heaviest collection day with Christmas cards coming into the system," Robinson said.

Five to six million pieces of mail will be handled Monday through the one plant alone. The biggest delivery days come later this week.

Seasonal employees are hired to bolster the staff that already is numbered at more than 850.

Maintenance teams make sure the machinery is ready to go, like one nicknamed the APPS.

"It runs about 10,000 pieces an hour," Robinson said.

The Automated Package Processing System sorts bundles of flats and packages weighing up to 25 pounds.

Expect next Monday to be especially busy as well, with folks trying to get their mail to friends and family in time for Christmas.