Long lines at Metro Atlanta malls and post office branches were a welcome sight for retailers Monday.

“I think it’s bouncing back, the economy [is] bouncing back,” said Ed Hardy store manager Ty Phillips.

Phillips, who works at Lenox Mall, said he has seen a big difference this year in the crowds and also in the amount of money people are spending.

Those observations seemed to jive with recent MasterCard reports that most retailers are showing improved sales over this time last year.

“Everybody was being real safe with shopping, maybe I’ll get this but not this, but this year everybody is laying it all out on the table,” said Phillips. Actually Black Friday, we surpassed our numbers from last year so this is extra that we’re banking in now.”

Other stores said they were cautiously optimistic.

A spokesperson with Macy’s said they were dealing with lots of last minute shoppers but wouldn’t say how busy they were and will release the numbers in January.

Monday was the last day to mail first class packages by Christmas. Since the Postal Service reported losses of more than $3.5 billion this year, there are no extended hours and no extra staffers.

“While in years past we hired additional staffers to get us through the Christmas period, we did very little of that this year. In fact, here in the Atlanta area ,we’ve hired virtually nobody,” said Michael Miles of United States Postal Service.