In December, the office becomes Santa’s workshop

Every year, something magical happens inside corporate mailrooms. Instead of heading home, holiday shopping quietly reroutes to the office. Workplace teams become part-time elves helping employees manage a steady flow of “To: me, from: me” deliveries.

It turns out people aren’t just working from the office in December. They’re also using it as a holiday hideout—stashing gifts away from curious family members, dodging porch pirates, and making sure those Black Friday deals arrive safely.

At Envoy, we analyzed delivery data across thousands of workplaces to understand this annual ritual. The results? Let’s just say the corporate mailroom deserves its own holiday movie.

Here’s what we found:

Black Friday isn’t the real rush—what follows is

Black Friday might dominate headlines, but inside workplaces, it’s surprisingly calm. Delivery volume during that week is only about 25% above the yearly average. Consider it the warm-up lap.

The real action starts the week after Black Friday. That’s when:

• Deliveries jump to about 60% above the yearly average
• Offices see about 30% more packages than the week before
• All those Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals actually start showing up at work

In short: Black Friday is when people shop. The week after is when the mailrooms feel it.

The true package peak hits 2–3 weeks before Christmas

For offices, peak package season is mid-December—when personal gifts, online orders, and last-minute shopping all collide at the workplace. Every year we studied—across 2018–2019 and 2021–2024—the busiest week for office deliveries lands in early to mid-December, not the week of Christmas itself.

During this peak week:

• Deliveries rise 70–75% above the yearly average
• Volume is about 40% higher than a typical Q4 week
• And about 70% more employees receive at least one package

That’s an entire workplace worth of people quietly coordinating holiday logistics between meetings.

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Once the holidays hit, deliveries drop fast

After Christmas, the corporate mailroom goes from bustling to nearly silent. 

Both Christmas week and the week after run at:

• 25–30% fewer deliveries than an average week
• More than 50% fewer packages than the early-December peak

So much for a returns rush. People tend to handle post-holiday returns from home, not from their desks.

What this means for workplace teams

Workplace and facilities teams quietly absorb a huge amount of December’s holiday logistics. They’re:

• Managing a surge in personal packages
• Keeping mailrooms organized and safe
• Helping employees avoid porch pirates and prying eyes
• Fielding the “hey, did my package come yet?” walk-bys every hour

It’s one more example of how the workplace supports employees’ real lives—and how workplace teams bring order to a season that can feel chaotic.

If your office turns into Santa’s workshop every December, you’re not alone. The data proves it.

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