Canada Post workers across the country have kicked it into high gear, working the last three weekends to keep up with the increasing number of parcel, package and Christmas card deliveries leading up to Dec. 25.

The postal service broke records after delivering 50 million pieces of mail on Dec. 20 and over one million parcels on Dec. 13 within 24-hour periods.

"We were ready for this. Our whole business is changing and has in the last few years with the onset of e-commerce and online shopping," said Canada Post spokesman John Caines. "I haven’t seen a computer yet that can deliver those parcels, but that’s where we come in."

The mad mail rush typically starts around Black Friday (Nov. 23 this year) and Cyber Monday, Caines said.

Canada Post projects that over one billion pieces of mail will be delivered over this holiday season.

The number of parcels being sent through Canada Post has increased 12 per cent over last year.

Since Black Friday, Canada Post has delivered 20 million parcels, 250,000 just last weekend.

But rural mail volumes have been steadily declining for the last five years, Caines said, despite Canada Post being one of the few carriers that deliver to the countryside.

He predicts posties will remain busy until the second week in January.

"We expect it to go beyond tomorrow, being Christmas Day, because of the Boxing Day sales and also the returns," said Caines.