Christmas may still be two weeks away, but it’s crunch time for getting mailed packages under friends and families’ trees in time.
The U.S. Postal Service has a list of recommended shipping deadlines based on location and type of service:
Today – military post office addresses (APO/FPO/DPO) Priority and First-Class Mail; Dec. 16 for Priority Mail Express;
Dec. 15 — USPS Retail Ground service;
Dec. 17 — First-Class Mail service (including greeting cards) and First-Class packages (up to 15.99 ounces), Dec. 18 to Alaska;
Dec. 18 — Priority Mail service;
Dec. 23 — Priority Mail Express* service.
Next week (Dec. 13-18) is anticipated to be the busiest mailing, shipping and delivery week of the season. To handle this year’s holiday shipping, the Postal Service is expanding Sunday deliveries in high package volume locations. Mail carriers will also deliver Priority Mail Express packages on Christmas Day for an additional fee in select locations.
There are temporary price increases through Dec. 26 to provide the agency with the revenue to cover extra costs in anticipation of peak-season volume surges similar to levels experienced in 2020. The website postcalc.usps.com has a Retail Postage Price Calculator to help figure and reduce costs.
“Even with the temporary increase, the Postal Service has some of the lowest mail postage rates in the industrialized world and continues to offer great values in shipping,” the USPS says on its website.
