Canada Post busier than Santa's workshop this time of year

Santa isn't the only one inundated with mail this holiday season.

Canada Post is going through its busiest week of the year, and it's breaking all records. It marked a 20-per-cent increase in the number of parcels delivered nationally this year.

On Monday, Canada Post delivered 3,400 items a minute nationally. During the year, that number is closer to 1,500 items a minute.

Edmonton's main postal plant is one of the biggest in Canada. In the weeks before and after Christmas it stays open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In just one day its employees can process up to 2.5 million items.

Those numbers are growing every year. In 2012, Edmonton's plant went through one million items in a day once a year. Last week, employees handled that much mail and more­ almost every day.

"The volume has just gone crazy; it's not even close to what it used to be," said Randy Smith, an Edmonton mail-service courier. He's been delivering packages for more than three decades.

Most of that increase is due to a rise in online orders, according to Ben McCutcheon, director of operations at Edmonton's postal plant. He says holiday mail accounts for 25 per cent of the year's total volume.

Christmas spirit flowing through plant

"You can just feel an energy in the building," he said. "We've got a lot of employees here, and they get excited, their spirits are high. We have some wearing Santa hats, and they get really involved."

McCutcheon says there are also elves working at his plant. They handle letters with the postal code H0H 0H0, destined for the North Pole.

About one million of those letters arrive in Edmonton each year. Smith says they're part of what makes the extra holiday work worthwhile.

"Stress levels are quite a bit higher, but it's all worth it because you know the kids are going to get their presents on Christmas Day, and they're going to be all excited and happy," he said.

Edmonton's postal workers won't slow down until after Christmas. McCutcheon says the holiday rush doesn't end until the second week of January, after Boxing Day orders finish going through the system. Postal workers will then get a break until Easter mail starts.

"It's just a weight off your shoulders. You think, 'We did it again this year.' There's a sense of pride," McCutcheon said. "Employees really feel pretty good about the job they've done for another Christmas Eve."