In order to keep your customer satisfaction high during the busiest time of the year, it’s crucial to communicate holiday shipping deadlines—the final dates to send a package for it to reach its destination by the holidays—to your customers.
Holiday shipping deadlines allow carriers to account for the higher shipping volume, ensuring orders are under the tree and into stockings on time. And with Thanksgiving falling on a later day this year, the holiday shopping window is shorter, so make sure you’re aware of these important dates before the busy season begins.
When do packages need to be mailed for Christmas delivery 2024?
Shipping deadlines will vary by the carrier and service, but most carrier deadlines range from six to 12 days before December 25th. It’s also important to note that domestic and international services each have their own set of shipping deadlines, so keep this in mind when preparing your holiday shipments. The domestic shipping deadlines for USPS, UPS, and FedEx can all be found below.
UPS® holiday shipping deadlines
- UPS 3 Day Select®: December 19, 2024
- UPS 2nd Day Air® services: December 20, 2024
- UPS® Ground: Check ups.com/ctc for details
- UPS® Ground Saver: Check ups.com/ctc for details
- UPS Next Day Air® services: December 23, 2024
USPS® holiday shipping deadlines
This year, USPS is implementing a temporary surcharge that started on October 6, 2024, but if you use our shipping rates, you can potentially avoid the surcharge.
- USPS Ground Advantage™: December 16, 2024
- First-Class® Mail: December 16, 2024
- Priority MailⓇ: December 18, 2024
- Priority Mail ExpressⓇ*: December 20, 2024
USPS® holiday shipping deadlines for Alaska and Hawaii
- USPS Ground Advantage™: December 16, 2024
- First-Class® Mail: December 16, 2024
- Priority MailⓇ: December 18, 2024 (Alaska), December 16, 2024 (Hawaii)
- Priority Mail ExpressⓇ*: December 20, 2024
FedEx® holiday shipping deadlines
- FedEx Ground Economy: December 13, 2024
- FedEx GroundⓇ: Visit FedEx’s website for more information about shipping deadlines for FedEx Ground®
- FedEx Home Delivery: Visit FedEx’s website for more information about shipping deadlines for FedEx Home Delivery®
- FedEx Express Saver: December 19, 2024
- Fedex 2DayⓇ & FedEx 2DayⓇ AM: December 20, 2024 (with an optional Saturday pickup {a $16 per-package surcharge}, the last day to ship for FedEx 2Day and FedEx 2Day AM can be extended to Saturday, December 21, 2024)
- FedEx SameDayⓇ: December 24, 2024
Need a quick reference for upcoming shipping deadlines? Print out our handy calendar and share it with your team and customers.
USPS, UPS, and FedEx shipping holidays
Shipping holidays are designated days where postal workers, delivery drivers, and other people within this field are given time off and most or all services are suspended for the day. The shipping holidays for USPS, UPS, and FedEx are all outlined in the lists below.
USPS shipping holiday schedule 2024*
- Thanksgiving Day: November 28, 2024
- Christmas Day: December 25, 2024
- New Year’s Day: January 1, 2025
*Note: A full list of USPS shipping holidays can be found on their website.
UPS shipping holiday schedule 2024•
- Thanksgiving Day: November 28, 2024
- Christmas Day: December 25, 2024
- New Year’s Day: January 1, 2025
*Note: A full list of UPS shipping holidays can be found on their website.
✝Some of The UPS Store® locations may have modified business hours. Check with your local store for specific hours of operation.
FedEx shipping holiday schedule 2024*
- FedEx shipping holidays vary by service and by date throughout the holiday season. Visit FedEx’s website for a complete list of FedEx shipping holidays.
Enjoy branded notifications
You’ve communicated shipping deadlines to your customers. How else can you continue to improve customer satisfaction during the busiest shipping season of the year? Stamps.com merchants can enable branded ship notifications and branded tracking to give customers a personalized experience.
Branded ship notifications allow your business to customize emails with your logo, preferred color scheme, and more. Additionally, your business can add social media links and promo messages to give customers access to special deals.
Our branded options can be enabled and customized throughout the year, so you aren’t limited to one specific message. Create shipping notifications in advance and cross another item off your to-do list, all while keeping the holiday season merry and bright for your customers.
Make the holiday season simpler with a 30-day trial to Stamps.com.
