Before Justine Cuttler gets to the fun part of her job, she has a few hours of sorting to do each morning.

“We already put all of our mail in our case in order and now we’re just pulling it down in order and getting in our tray so it’s ready for the day,” Justine said.

For the past 21 years, Cuttler has worked as a letter carrier for the United States Postal Service.

“Actually a friend of mine had been a carrier for several years and he recommended the job so I took the test and that was it,” Justine said.

On this morning, Justine says she has a fairly light load but she knows that won’t be the norm for long with the busy holiday season approaching.

“Especially this time of year it does get hectic but it’s a lot of fun, I get into the holiday spirit,” Justine said.

“We are ready to go, we are ready for this. We know that this time of year, this is our ‘go time’ I like to say, we look forward to it,” Geno Degonzague, United States Postal Service customer service manager said.

At the processing plant where Cuttler and nearly 500 other employees work, Geno says they’ve been prepping all year to bring on additional help for the holidays. Nationally, the post office is looking to hire 40,000 seasonal workers.

“We’ve got processing, we’ve got distribution and then we’ve got customer service and delivery, so it’s all across the board,” Geon said.

Over the next year, the Postal Service is also looking to add 100,000 permanent employees to overcome issues brought on by the nationwide staffing shortage.

“There is no doubt we have been affected by it, just like any company around the country but our employees have done a great job when handling that extra pressure and workload and everybody has stepped up to the plate,” Geno said.

With her cart finally loaded up, Justine is ready to pack up her vehicle and head out on her route.

“People like to come out and chit chat, you just get to know them, so I really know a lot of the people and it’s nice,” Justin said.

By the time she’s done, she’ll have spent more than six hours on the road. Along the way, she’ll even make a few special deliveries to some tiny customers who are more than excited to see her truck pull up.

“It’s really cute, they love to help, they see the truck coming along and it’s really fun, especially around the holidays,” Justine said.

Two decades into her career, Justine says the job brings her joy and satisfaction every day.

“It’s a great job, you’re going to work very hard but it’s worth it. You stick through it and you have a sense of pride in your job and we love what we do,” Justine said.