USPS outlines how to ship packages for holidays while avoiding post office

(FOX 9) - This is the most wonderful time of the year for the U.S. Post Office.

Lots of people will be using the postal service during the holiday season, and the agency wants to make sure you can do so while following coronavirus guidelines.

Officials want people to know you can use most post office services without leaving your home. The post office held a Zoom event Friday afternoon to show some of the features of its website.

With all of us being told to avoid large gatherings and try to maintain social distancing, the post office says its website is a great way to get send all your holiday packages without having to leave your home.

"We want people to be able to come into our post offices, but being able to do this from their own homes makes this extremely safe, where we can schedule a pickup, a carrier will pick it up - contactless free pickup, that sort of thing - it's very easy to do," explained a post office worker.

If you want to send a package through normal ground service and make sure it arrives by Christmas Day, the postal service's deadline is December 15. For first-class mail, it's December 18. For priority mail, it's December 19 and for priority mail express, it's December 23.