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Did you know that the third Monday in December is usually the busiest mailing day of the year? And that the Post Office will deliver over 20 billion pieces of mail this holiday season? So, just in time for the busy mailing rush, here are time savers and tips to make sure your mail arrives on time and in good condition.

Don’t Be Late—Holiday Mailing Schedule

First week of December: Get Parcel Post^® packages to the post office
Second week of December (not later!): Send all greeting cards
Third week of December: Send all Priority Mail^®
By December 20: Send all Express Mail^®

Holiday Dates to Remember

Thanksgiving—Nov. 26, 2009, Thursday (Federal Holiday)
Hanukkah—Dec. 11, 2009 thru Dec. 18, 2009, from sundown to sundown
Christmas— Dec. 25, 2009, Friday (Federal Holiday)
Kwanzaa— Dec. 26, 2009 thru Jan. 1, 2010
New Year’s Day—January 1, 2010, Friday (Federal Holiday)

Keeping track of dates and time is important if you want to beat the holiday rush, but equally important is taking advantage of some timesaving shortcuts. Here are some tips sure to help.

Addressing Made Easy

You can make short work of long mailing lists by using Avery Easy Peel Address Labels and the Avery Wizard software for Microsoft^® Office. When you use them together, you can create professional looking, custom-printed address labels in minutes. And the Easy Peel Address Labels are fast and easy to peel from the label sheet, so you won’t have to fiddle around to find the edge of the labels. See how it works

Check Your Zip Codes

Don’t let an incorrect zip code send your mail in the wrong direction. If in doubt, just go to www.usps.com and click on Find a ZIP code. Once you’ve got your mailing list in order (with full addresses and correct ZIP codes) you can use the Avery Wizard to mail merge it onto labels in just a few clicks.

Reuse those boxes

Ever have a used box that would be perfect for something you need to ship, except it’s got the original shipping labels and other markings all over it? No problem. And no more need to scratch off the old labels. Instead, all you need are Avery Shipping Labels with TrueBlock^™ Technology and free Avery Templates to format and print the new shipping address. These labels will completely cover everything underneath, so your packages always look neat, legible and professional.

Avoid Post Office Lines

Why go to the Post Office when you can calculate and print official USPS postage right from your own PC? You can print postage-paid stamps for envelopes and shipping labels for packages at www.avery.com/postage, powered by Stamps.com. And right now, Avery customers can get a free, four-week trial of these convenient services. Just go to www.avery.com/postage and register now.