Neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom of night will keep the Postal Service from delivering the holidays. Between now and Christmas Eve, the Postal Service will deliver 15.8 billion cards, letters and packages across the country and around the world.

The Postal Service expects to deliver nearly 3 billion cards and letters over the holidays and there are more than 3 billion holiday stamps available to handle the volume. This year, a snowman and the words “Happy Holidays” will appear in the upper right-hand corner of greeting cards and letters mailed during the month of December.

During this holiday season, the Postal Service also expects:

* 97 million customers to visit a post office

* 30 million pounds of mail to be delivered to overseas military installations, including Iraq and war zones in Afghanistan

* 4.7 million shipping labels to be printed using Click-N-Ship

The busiest mailing day is set for Dec. 20. More than 800 million cards, letters and packages are expected to be mailed on that day alone, compared to 559 million on a typical day. Dec. 22 will be the busiest delivery day. Staff at the National Operations Center work 24/7 to help navigate mail movement around the world.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.