The holiday season sometimes means a visit to the post office when it's busier than ever, but Hawai'i postal officials have some tips to help keep the experience cheaper and easier.

Duke Gonzales, a Postal Service spokesman in Hawai'i, is expecting the annual deluge and says the national forecast is to deliver 16.6 billion pieces of mail between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, 830 million on Dec. 14, the busiest mailing day of the year.

But Gonzales said many Hawai'i customers already have figured out one of the best tips: flat-rate boxes that come in three sizes — small $4.95, medium $10.35 and large $13.95. (There are two shapes in the medium size.)

And yes, you can still fill those boxes with up to 70 pounds worth of guava juice, Spam, poha jam, mango chutney, macadamia nuts, bags of rice for U.S. mailing — whatever you think will say happy holidays to your fabulous sister, your hard-working niece or homesick college student.

The boxes are available in post office lobbies so you don't even have to stand in line to get the free flat-rate boxes.

There are discounts for printing out postage from the Web site and the postage is discounted to $11.95 for the large flat rate boxes sent to APO/FPO addresses that people use to overseas U.S. military.

Gonzales said Honolulu District is still No. 1 in the country for flat-rate box use. For the just-finished fiscal 2009: Honolulu District: 914,171; Seattle District: 833,072; Suncoast (Tampa) District: 751,464.

Want to avoid the longest lines this year? Don't go on Monday, Dec. 14, but wait a day or two depending on where you are sending packages.

If you do go on a busy day, try to avoid the first thing in the morning, lunch time or just before closing, said Gonzales, because everybody else goes then. Consider 1:30 to 2 p.m.

Honolulu Postal Service retail manager Nancy Wong said customers can also check out new market-priced high-quality greeting cards for all the usual occasions available at the airport, Waikíkí, Mililani, Käne'ohe and Kailua, Kona on the Big Island.

"They're among our biggest offices so they have room for them," Wong said. And they can save a stop at another store for someone already waiting in line.

The latest news in flat-rate boxes this holiday season is the "Aloha" flat-rate box, which carries a special Hawai'i logo.

"We're the only place in the country with a locally branded flat-rate box," Gonzales said. Getting the Diamond Head and palm tree image on the box took a couple of years of paperwork and a lot of phone calls, he said from the quasi-governmental agency.

Wong likes to think of recipients gazing at the balmy imagery "while they're opening it up and they're freezing."

Since the box was introduced in June, Gonzales said, "we've doubled the use of the large flat-rate box and we expect that to triple" this month. That means 12,000 pieces per month, 25,000 in October and November.

Wong said the sample box they put together shows a mix of cans, juice, nuts, Spam and other items frequently mailed by Hawai'i folks. To show the savings possible by using the $13.95 large flat-rate box, she weighed the box at 16 pounds, which meant it would have cost $39.95 to mail by weight.

And Gonzales said even more businesses are custom-designing gift baskets to fit inside. Last year, Menehune Mac began offering a wide assortment of custom gifts that mail in the flat-rate boxes, including a build-your-own option.

He said Island Princess and Hilo Hattie both have leaped in this year. He said Hilo Hattie's Nimitz store offers a big display that shows not just the signature clothing line "but they have a lot of food, and gift items and coffee and candy."

And customers can pay for the mailing right there when they select the gifts.

"They're really realizing what a value it is," Gonzales said.

There are pricier international rates —$32.95 to Canada and Mexico; $53.95 to other countries with a weight limit of 20 pounds.

Gonzales and Wong encourage people to look at the convenience of printing out postage at home online and either having the postal carrier pick up boxes at home or office or dropping the packages at the Click-n-Ship drop-off at each post office.

"Every year people are getting more technologically savvy," Gonzales said. "Now they have iPhones and other things, and they're more comfortable with it."

Customers looking to buy holiday stamps can buy them while shopping at Costco, Safeway and Longs as well as post offices. Costco is even selling the pack of 100 at 25 cents cheaper.

And Gonzales said the good news is that the Postal Service already decided to keep the price the same next year instead of raising the rate, so holiday stamps purchased this year would still be usable next year. Talk about planning ahead.

Many post offices also have self-service Automated Postal Centers that allow customers to purchase stamps, print and pay for postage for packages, and conduct other transactions without having to stand in line to get service from a mail clerk.

And if you still delay — what the Postal Service folks call the super-procrastinator — you can still pay more to send items by Dec. 19 that will even be delivered in many communities ON Christmas Day.

But for that you pay a premium.