NATCHEZ &8212; The busiest shipping day of the year got even busier Monday at the Natchez post office.

Postmaster Bill Farrior said traffic was heavier this year than in years past, due mainly to Hurricane Katrina.

&8220;Natchez has so many people that evacuated from the coast,&8221; he said. &8220;I&8217;d say a third of the mail coming through here is people from the coast.&8221;

Many of the packages have New Orleans and coastal addresses, he said.

The U.S. Postal Service estimated it would handle more than 900 million pieces of mail on Monday, the busiest shipping day of the year.

At the Natchez post office cars parked across the street and lines were about five to 10 people deep during the slow hours. During lunch break lines were &8220;unbelievable,&8221; Farrior said.

To handle the crowds, three instead of the usual two, clerks worked the lobby. Farrior and other administrative staff pitched in taping up boxes and answering questions.

In the back, employees worked overtime hours to make sure boxes kept moving.

A similar system is in place all week at the Tracetown Post Office, Farrior said.

Barbara Green said she waited in line for about 10 minutes to mail her packages to her granddaughter in North Carolina.

&8220;I don&8217;t have too many more days,&8221; she said. &8220;And now, it&8217;ll get there just in time for Christmas.&8221;

At the Vidalia Post Office, last minute shippers were also out in abundance.

Donnie Webster and Cheryl Knapik, both of Vidalia, each had a package in hand, and Webster blamed the week-of-Christmas shipping on Knapik.

&8220;She keeps going to Wal-Mart and buying stuff,&8221; Webster said with a laugh.

But that&8217;s OK until Wednesday, Farrior said. Express mail &8212; the most costly option &8212; will get items shipped on Wednesday to their destination by Christmas Day, he said.

Some packages shipped today can make it with only priority pricing (a little cheaper), but they aren&8217;t guaranteed.

&8220;We do deliver express mail and obvious Christmas presents on Christmas Day,&8221; Farrior said. &8220;Hopefully we won&8217;t miss anyone&8217;s Christmas.&8221;

The rush mentality and the overtime hours around Christmas are something Farrior said most postal workers are accustomed to.

&8220;This is our time,&8221; he said. &8220;We earn our money this time of year.&8221;

He expects crowds to stay heavy all week, with three times the normal amount of express mail and four times the normal amount of priority mail.

And many customers plan to keep being last minute.

&8220;This one&8217;s to a friend in New York, &8230; and this one&8217;s going to my son in Connecticut,&8221; said Irma Clark of Ferriday, who stopped by the Vidalia post office during the lunch hour.

Fortunately, Clark added, &8220;this is the last I&8217;ve got to ship.&8221;

Boxes big and small &8212; including a taped-up Bud Light box &8212; were weighed, plastered with postage and efficiently set aside to make way for the next ones.

Clerk Deborah Burnham didn&8217;t have time to stop and marvel at it all, however &8212; though she did have one observation.

&8220;The busiest shipping day? That&8217;s what they say,&8221; Burnham said. &8220;And as you can see, it&8217;s probably true.&8221;