Holiday shipping: Your guide to package deadlines, shipping online and more
Jessica BiesThe U.S. Postal Service expects to deliver nearly 15 billion pieces of mail and 900 million packages between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day this year.
If that number sounds impressive, try adding in the number of packages UPS and FedEx expect to ship during the holidays.
UPS, whose biggest client is Amazon.com, is predicting it will handle 800 million, which equates to roughly 30 million packages a day from Thanksgiving to Christmas. They've hired about 100,000 seasonal workers to help handle the load.
FedEx typically ships about 400 million packages and has not only hired 55,000 seasonal workers but has offered its retiring pilots bonuses of $40,000 to $110,000 to stick around during the holiday shipping season, according to Reuters.
With all that in mind, here's everything you need to know to have all your holiday packages delivered on time this year, whether you're sending them a few states away or to military service members overseas.
Holiday shipping deadlines
The Postal Service recommends the following mailing and shipping deadlines:
- Dec. 4: Army, fleet and diplomatic post offices (ZIP code 093) priority and first-class
- Dec. 11: Army, fleet and diplomatic post offices (other ZIP codes) priority and first-class
- Dec. 14: USPS retail ground
- Dec. 18: Army, fleet and diplomatic post offices (except ZIP code 093) USPS priority mail express
- Dec. 20: first-class mail (including greeting cards)
- Dec. 20: first-class packages (up to 15.99 ounces)
- Dec. 20: Hawaii to mainland priority mail and first-class mail
- Dec. 20: Priority mail
- Dec. 20: Alaska to mainland priority mail and first-class mail
- Dec. 22: Alaska to mainland priority mail express
- Dec. 22: Hawaii to mainland priority mail express
- Dec. 22: Priority mail express
Not a guarantee, unless otherwise noted. Dates are for estimated delivery before Dec. 25.The actual delivery date may vary depending on origin, destination and more.
Here's UPS' holiday schedule. Click here if you don't see the PDF:
And here's FedEx's schedule. Click here if you can't see the PDF:
Shipping gifts to the troops and overseas
The Postal Service also processes more than 16 million pounds of holiday mail for overseas Department of Defense and Department of State recipients.
Packages destined for Iraq or Afghanistan need to be sent by Dec. 4. Military mail sent priority and first-class to other locations needs to be mailed by Dec. 11. Military mail sent priority mail express needs to be sent by Dec. 18.
Busiest mailing and delivery days
With an increase in early and online shopping for gifts, there is no longer a “busiest day” for holiday shipping.
Instead, the Postal Service’s busiest time is now two weeks before Christmas.
Starting the week of Dec. 10, customer traffic is expected to increase, and the Postal Service expects to deliver nearly 200 million packages per week until Christmas.
The week of Dec. 17-23 is predicted to be the busiest mailing, shipping and delivery week, when nearly 3 billion pieces of first-class mail, including greeting cards, will be processed and delivered.
Shipping online
You don't need to leave your house to ship packages online anymore. The Postal Service estimates nearly 105 million people will visit its website between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.
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Nearly 400,000 will use the Click-N-Ship feature and other online services to order free priority mail boxes, print shipping labels, purchase postage and even use free next-day pickup.
Click whatever service you want to use to ship your packages this year:
New this year
The Postal Service has a new service this year called Informed Delivery, which gives you a free daily digital preview of what’s coming to your mailbox. You can manage your packages, get a sneak peek at greeting cards, see exterior images of magazines and more — all from your mobile app, dashboard, tablet or computer.
Find out more at informeddelivery.usps.com.
Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.