The Holiday Shipping Deadlines You Need to Know

The holiday season: Depending on whom you ask, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. It’s also the busiest shipping season of the year.

In fact, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) expects to handle approximately 750 million packages during the 2016 holiday season, an increase of more than 12 percent over 2015 and double the volume of packages handled just four years ago, according to a press release.

Not to be outdone, UPS is forecasting a 14 percent increase in packages shipments, while FedEx is anticipating record peak volume to jump by 10 percent compared to 2015 numbers.

The expansive growth of e-commerce, assisted by events like Cyber Monday, has driven significant shifts in demand in recent years. FedEx put together this fun infographic to show how it’s preparing to meet such needs:

Image via FedEx

Whether you’re mailing gifts of appreciation to loyal clients or cards to industry peers, there are several important dates you need to know, or you may be out of luck—and extra cash due to expedited delivery service fees*.

The USPS posted the following deadlines on its website:

• Dec. 9: Military APO/FPO/DPO Priority Mail & APO/FPO First-Class Mail
• Dec. 15: USPS Retail Ground (domestic)
• Dec. 16: Military APO/FPO/DPO Priority Mail Express
• Dec. 20: First-Class Mail Cards and Letters
• Dec. 21: Priority Mail
• Dec. 23: Priority Mail Express

FedEx deadlines are:

• Dec. 21: Last day to ship all UPS 2nd Day Air packages to ensure Christmas Eve delivery
• Dec. 23: Last day for all packages that are shipped via UPS Next Day Air and UPS 2nd Day Air Service. (For those using UPS 2nd Day Air, choose the Saturday delivery option, so it arrives by or on Dec. 24.)

* For FedEx, a $16 Saturday delivery fee will apply per package for anything that will be delivered on Dec. 24 for the following services: FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight and FedEx 2Day.