USPS delivered 524 million packages last month; set one-day record for most package deliveries

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) said yesterday it delivered 524 million packages in December, an 18-percent increase over December 2013 levels and a USPS record for holiday package traffic.

On Dec. 22, the Postal Service delivered more than 28 million packages, the most packages delivered in one day in USPS' history. On the same day, USPS delivered 463 million pieces of mail.

USPS began seven-day-a-week deliveries in late November. More than 20 million packages were delivered on the five Sundays prior to Christmas Day, USPS said. Approximately 118,000 packages were delivered on Christmas Day, it said.

Separately, UPS Inc. said it expected to ship 800,000 returns packages back to retailers yesterday, which marks the peak day of the busy returns shipping week. Atlanta-based UPS estimates it will ship 4 million returns parcels back to retailers by week's end.