Holidays
The calendar is a non-leap year of 365 days. Play day 1 is Monday, March 20. Each later play year advances the weekdays by one day. A holiday that falls on Saturday is observed Friday. A Sunday holiday is observed Monday.
The default holiday policy is Reduced Capacity. Change it under Operations, then Holidays.
- Full Override. Work the holiday at full capacity. It hits labor relations and can show up as the strike grievance "Holiday full-capacity override."
- Reduced Capacity. Skeleton crew at half work speed (0.50). Trucks still arrive.
- Total Shutdown. Staff operations stop. Trucks still arrive. Overtime is blocked. The next day that is not a Sunday is a mail glut at 2.5 times cargo.
Named days
- New Year's Day, January 1, observed
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the third Monday in January
- Presidents Day, the third Monday in February
- Memorial Day, the last Monday in May
- Juneteenth, June 19, observed
- Independence Day, July 4, observed
- Labor Day, the first Monday in September
- Columbus Day, the second Monday in October
- Veterans Day, November 11, observed
- Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday in November
- Christmas Day, December 25, observed
Sundays waive Service Level Agreements even when they are not a named holiday. See Facility Grade.
Volume
Mondays run at 1.7 times cargo. The Monday after a holiday, including a Friday holiday that piled mail over the weekend, runs at 2.35 times. Christmas season cargo is 2.25 times, and the mix leans toward parcels. A glut day after Total Shutdown is 2.5 times and skips Sunday so the surge lands on the next operating day.
Valentine's Day, February 14, is not one of those named holidays and does not use the holiday policy. Lobby letter drop-offs spike (customer letter weight 2.75, and 1.25 times the usual customer spawn). Inbound cargo is 1.45 times and letter-heavy. About 78 percent of new letters that day are love letters. Clerks sort them and carriers deliver them like ordinary mail.
Each New Year, non-contractors may get a raise. See Unions.
First Christmas is a checklist: hold Government at 25 or above from December 21 to 25, meet the sort quota on three rush days when mail arrives, deliver 10 pieces, and use Full Override at most once. See Story and Sandbox.