Postal Service working extra hours during busiest delivery time of the year

As you frantically order gifts, send presents and get your holiday cards out, fox 32 checked in with the people who deliver all that extra mail.

This is the busiest time of the year for the US Postal Service, so how do they handle it and what can you do to make it easier?

With her cart loaded up, Nadean Press delivers more than just mail.

“Yes, full of holiday cheer, a lot of boxes,” Press said. “Yeah and this is only for one block.”

She works 12 hour days and covers 17 blocks in Humboldt Park as she delivers letters plus lots and lots of packages.

“Woo! Hundreds, hundreds... we do extended hours to make sure all the customers get their boxes,” she said.

Between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, the Postal Service plans to deliver 15 billion pieces of mail and 900 million packages. That means long days for workers.

“We just keep going. We love our job. We have a mission to do, We know we are out here to do our job and we do it to the best of our abilities,” Press said.

But Press has some requests to make her job easier: no dogs in your front yard, or ice and snow covering your steps.

“We're carrying boxes up stairs and there's ice and snow, it's almost impossible,” she said.

She's got enough on her mind trying to keep your packages and herself safe.

“You have to always look around, make sure people are not behind you, next to you, in front of you. Things like that, people are trying to take packages - we deal with a lot out here,” she said.

But Press loves the job, especially this time of year, and sometimes customers deliver a gift to her.

“It feels amazing, it lets you know they really appreciate you,” she said.

Press says she feels a bit like a Christmas elf -- one who wears blue.