BLACKSBURG (WSLS10)-- While many think of Valentine's Day as a holiday that's only celebrated by couples-- it's a much different picture at Virginia Tech, as moms and dads are showering their college kids with love.
The U.S. Postal Service in Blacksburg stays relatively busy during the school year, when students are on campus-- but the week leading up to Valentine's Day is their busiest of the day, looking more like Christmas than mid-February.
On an average day, there are about 1,800 to 2,000 packages delivered to the Town of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech's Campus. During the days leading up to Valentine's Day, letter carriers delivered more than 4,200 packages to apartments and dorm rooms all over Blacksburg. That's more than double the average number of deliveries, something employees at the Post Office say is amazing to see.
According to the National Retail Federation, parents spend an average of nearly $30 on cards, candy and other gifts for their kids. That extra thought is easy to see in the Blacksburg sorting room, as it's filled with red and pink boxes of all shapes and sizes.
"Mom does a great job, mom and dad, of really packaging this stuff up," says the Blacksburg Postmaster, Carrie Thornhill. "We see a lot of the pink and red hearts and little love messages on the outside, it's just really really neat stuff. Every year it's like this, it's just great to see it come in like that."
Thornhill says the mail carriers start to get busy in mid-January as students move back on campus for the spring semester. They continue to get busier and busier until Valentine's Day rolls around.
"We're super busy this time of year, especially with the semester starting later this year," she says. "So we not only have the books and all of the stuff coming in for the semester that's starting, but then you have Valentines coming in right behind it."
Thornhill says she sees packages coming in from all across the United States and around the world-- reminding these students that Valentine's Day isn't just about the love between couples, but the love between families as well.