MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII -- Christmas Day is creeping up, and service members are making an effort to ensure their gifts arrive punctually to their intended destinations.
The Marine Corps Hawaii Base Post Office has provided a chart for last minute international and mainland shipments to inform patrons when their packages should be sent by in order to be received in time for Christmas.
Gunnery Sgt. Virgen Jenkins, postal chief for the MCB Hawaii Base Post Office, says this time of year is one of their busiest, and those people who have yet to ship their packages, should do so soon.
“We are very busy (because) of patrons who are mailing out packages,” Jenkins said. “Although it is kind of slower than last year, I think people are waiting (until the) last minute.”
Jenkins stated a number of reasons as to why patrons are shipping their mail this late in the holiday.
“I think people are procrastinating,” Jenkins said. “It might be the economy, but also there are several units that are deployed. It seems that the outgoing mail is three times busier than the incoming.”
Concerned clientele may still have time to get their packages to the mainland this late in the season. Patrons can ship their packages by Monday with Standard Post, Dec. 20 using First-Class Mail and Priority Mail. People can also ship their packages by Dec. 23 using Priority Mail Express. Customers must keep in mind that mail shipped through express will cost more.
Jenkins says the most important thing to know about sending packages is the deadline.
“People definitely need to know (when to ship their things),” Jenkins said. “If they’re mailing internationally, they need to know that other countries have their own deadlines. It’s really smart for them to go to usps.com if they’re mailing anything to a different country and to find out what their time frames are because there could be a (big difference depending on where you send your package.) It’s fairly smart to go online and do some research and get the different guidelines. (Patrons) are also welcome to come in and give us the (international) address, and we can give them a more exact time frame.”
The chart below also lists addresses to Army Post Offices and Fleet Post Offices if patrons wish to mail their things to other military installations. The deadline for shipping outgoing mail to other Military Post Offices is Dec. 17.