“We have a fifty-five percent increase in mail volume over the holidays,” said David Jeffco, NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center (FLC) Yokosuka’s postal manager. “That’s an average of an extra 87 thousand pounds of mail every two weeks during the season.”

That is no small feat for his team of postal clerks. Last year, they processed almost three hundred thousand pounds of inbound and outbound mail during the holidays.

“Everything traditionally doubles this time of year,” said Jeffco. “We’re already seeing an influx.”

In order to facilitate the ramp up, the Yokosuka and Ikego Navy family housing post offices will extended hours and open on Mondays to accommodate the increase in traffic and make sure packages make it back to the United States in time for the holidays.

Jeffco said it can take some time to address the myriad issues that can occur at the counters. Customers can help and do their part by exercising patience, expecting some longer wait times in lines and making sure to pick up their mail when notified it has arrived.

“We have our normal crew in addition to some volunteers,” he said. “We accept volunteers all year long but especially during the busy holiday season.”

There are steps customers can take to make certain packages make it to their intended destinations. In addition to confirming complete addresses are on all shipping labels, Jeffco recommends sturdy boxes and good packaging materials so items arrive in the condition they were purchased.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) makes it convenient to prepare shipping forms online, which can mitigate stress, fuss and reduce some of the crowding occurs when everyone is trying to prepare their required international shipping forms.

“You can do most of your Click-N-Ship packaging from your home computer, such as printing out customs forms directly from the USPS website,” said Jeffco.

In addition to preparing packages for shipping, the USPS site can give customers visibility of their packages before they arrive in Japan. With a tracking number, customers can get a good gauge of transit location and estimated time of arrival for most packages.

Jeffco said ninety percent of the inbound and outbound mail that leaves Yokosuka must first transit through the command’s Fleet Mail Center (FMC) in Yokohama, then over to Narita Airport in Tokyo, before making its way to the international distribution center located in Chicago.

When picking up packages at the post office, printing out the email notification and bringing it along can help speed up the process at the counter for everyone.

As in previous years, the NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka postal team will kick off “Operation Santa Claus” on Dec. 24 for late package arrivals.

“We will stay open until 6:00 p.m. on Dec. 24 to try and process same day mail. That’s all the mail that will come in later in the day from our FMC,” said Jeffco. “We’ll send out email notifications earlier to let people know they will have packages arriving. We want to do all we can do to make overseas Christmas more enjoyable.”

The following are important Yokosuka outbound shipping deadlines:

Space Available Mail – Nov. 27

Parcel Airlift – Dec. 4

First Class Mail – Dec. 11

Priority Mail – Dec. 11

Priority Express Mail – Dec. 18

The USPS website has detailed information on classes of mail and more: https://www.usps.com/

For information on USPS international shipping, visit https://www.usps.com/international/

To track USPS packages, visit https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction_input

NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka is one of eight FLCs under Commander, NAVSUP. Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and employing a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel, NAVSUP's mission is to provide supplies, services, and quality-of-life support to the Navy and joint warfighter. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsup and https://twitter.com/navsupsyscom.

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