FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM On the busiest mailing day of the year yesterday, Roger Horiuchi waited in line at the Ala Moana Center post office. The postal service suggests sending priority mail by tomorrow and first-class mail by Thursday to reach the mainland by Dec. 25.

Long holiday lines return
at post offices

Customers say service was fast
on the year's busiest mailing day

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By Pat Gee
pgee@starbulletin.com

Standing in line at the post office for 30 minutes, his arms loaded with big boxes, Roger Horiuchi, of Honolulu, didn't break a sweat.

He's done the same thing for the last three years -- wait until the last minute to mail his Christmas gifts -- but the long line at Ala Moana Center yesterday didn't bother him at all.

Ala Moana is the state's busiest post office, said Lynn Moore, manager of Honolulu Postal Services Consumer Affairs and Claims Department.

And yesterday was the busiest mailing day of the year around the country.

"The Monday before the week before Christmas" has traditionally been the busiest day at the post office, Moore said.

The suggested mailing date -- she hesitates to call it a "deadline" -- for priority mail to the mainland is tomorrow, and Thursday for first-class mail to the mainland.

Horiuchi said Ala Moana "may be the busiest, but it's also the fastest." Everyone who stood in the snaking line and inched their way to the service counter between fabric ropes seemed patiently resigned to the wait.

"Nobody gets upset," Horiuchi said.

Willy Ching, a manager usually stationed at the main post office at the airport, was one of the management staff put back on the front lines to help speed things up. He helped customers with wrapping supplies and provided some with customs forms for international parcels.

"We're trying to prepare them before they get up there (the service counter)," he said.

The line was out to the sidewalk from the moment that post office opened at 8:30 a.m., and continued that way through the day.

But with six windows open, the "line moves pretty fast," and the average wait is "under half an hour," Ching said.

Lena Osterlund, of Honolulu, was trying to get her mailing to Europe and Australia done during her lunch hour, but she wasn't worried that she'd be late back to work.

"They're doing a great job. They're doing it so fast, it's a credit to the U.S. post office," she said, adding that this was her second trip since Saturday to the post office.

Michael Yomogita, of Honolulu, said he picked the worst day to get his certified mail out, but it had to be done. He wasn't looking forward to waiting in line again to mail his gifts another day.

"I'm thinking of coming early in the morning," he added.

Moore said the postal service warned everyone to mail early via news releases and that yesterday would be the busiest day. It hired temporary help for the Christmas rush, not so much to staff the windows, because that requires special training, but to help sort and process mail, she said.