Receiving a card or letter from a family member or friend always feels special, but a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to make sure it arrives on time.

The last official date you can post a first class letter is tomorrow to give postal staff the chance to process and sort all the mail to be delivered across the UK.

Bosses at the Worcester Mail Centre on Wainwright Road, Warndon, have created 150 extra posts to cope with the estimated 7.5 million items that will be passing through each week.

And mail centre manager Carol Bell explained the extra preparations that went into making sure they were ready for the influx of mail over the weeks in the run-up to the festive period.

"Our delivery office manager Rick Savage is the Christmas planner. He starts work on Christmas as early as September," she said.

"He is also the only person who is going to be working on the day, receiving the arrival of any emergency parts needed, such as for gas boxes.

"We also have a marquee sited by our main building a few weeks before, which is where we sort the parcels and packets - the larger items of mail," she said.

The run-up to Christmas transforms the site into a 24 hour a day, seven days a week service - when normally the mail centre is closed on a Saturday evening.

On an average day in the year the centre processes 200,000 items through their automated system and 100,000 pieces of mail manually. But at this time of year, the figures rise dramatically to a million automated, and 250,000 manually sorted items.

"This year we also get an awful lot of Christmas parcels and packets, and companies such as Ebay have increased the amount we get - by about 15 per cent. This also is slightly more over Christmas," added Carol.

She also said they have noticed an increase in packages from firms offering internet shopping, particulary the online store Amazon.

Extra collections are also made at post boxes throughout the day to make sure they don't get too full.

"During the Christmas period we are focused on driving the performance. We are very, very busy but we all get into it. But there is a Christmas spirit and we do encourage staff to put up decorations to brighten the place up a bit."

Last week Carol explained the sorting office concentrated on getting mail out of the area, which is why many people may have noticed a drop in deliveries.

But she assured residents and local businesses they were going to focus on delivering all the mail and parcels in time for Saturday, December 23. Her husband is also committed to the postal service and is a postman near their home.

"He is always asking me questions about what goes on in the mail centre to pass on to his customer. His focus is very much on the delivery side and mine is on the sorting side," she explained.

"My husband is always getting offered a lot of cups of tea, especially in adverse weather.

"People like to get to know their posties."

After the Christmas rush, the volume of mail doesn't die down, however, completely due to the sale and summer holiday brochures.

But for staff, Carol said although it was a very busy time for them all, it was also a very rewarding experience.

"To think you are playing a part in sending and receiving of things is lovely. Postal staff get mail through in very difficult conditions and people are very grateful this."

She added: "But I must admit by Christmas Eve we are all very glad to put our feet up!"