Before Christmas gifts are stacked under the tree, they’re packed at United States Post Office distribution centers. News 12 got an inside look at the USPS network distribution center in Jersey City.

Postal officials say despite millions of orders, they’re ready for the holiday traffic. Last year, they processed around 13 billion pieces of mail and packages.

"This year, we’re very excited to meet that demand with about 348 new machines. Ten thousand employees around the country brought on to help us meet the charge of delivery,” said communications specialist Xavier Hernandez.

New robotic technology called FRS allows them to sort mail faster. They were introduced to this location about six months ago. They now have 60 of the machines assisting workers. “The mail handlers dump the mail on the belt behind us, it goes on the machine after it’s scanned, it then sorts it to over 220 destinations and it’s all automated,” senior distribution manager Larry Rosenfeld told News 12.

If you need to send a USPS package before Christmas Day, Dec. 16 is the final day to ship USPS ground packages - including greeting cards. Dec. 18 is the deadline for Priority Mail and Dec. 20 is the deadline for Priority Mail Express.

More information can be found on the USPS website.