Holiday Shipping Deadlines: EVERYTHING You Need to Know (Amazon Too)
Nothing worse than shopping online, finding that perfect gift, then realizing it’s too late to get it delivered by Christmas morning. With that in mind, I did the research and figured out the holiday shipping deadlines for FedEx, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service. I also broke down the deadlines when shopping online at the big 3: Amazon, Walmart, and Target.
USPS
December 14th: USPS Retail Ground
December 18th: Alaska to Mainland 1st Class Mail
December 19th: Hawaii to Mainland 1st Class Mail and Priority Mail
December 19th: Alaska to Mainland Priority Mail
December 20th: 1st Class Mail
December 21st: Priority Mail
December 21st: Alaska/Hawaii to Mainland Priority Mail Express
December 23rd: Priority Mail Express Service
FedEx
December 9th: FedEx Smart Post
December 16th: Ground & Home Delivery
December 20th: FedEx 2Day and 2Day a.m.
December 23rd: Standard Overnight, Priority Overnight and First Overnight
December 25th: SameDay, SameDay City Direct, SameDay City Priority
See Also: The 36 Coolest Things on Amazon for Under $25
UPS
December 13th: UPS Ground
December 19th: UPS 3-Day Select
December 20th: UPS 2nd Day Air
December 22nd: UPS Express Critical
December 23rd: UPS Next Day Air
What About Amazon Prime Members?
Amazon has a slightly different holiday delivery schedule for it’s Prime members…
December 22nd: Last day for free Prime 2-day shipping.
December 23rd: Last day for free Prime 1-day shipping.
Non-Prime Members: Place your orders by December 18th and select 3-5 standard shipping.
It should be noted that these shipping dates from Amazon are highly weather dependent as a big storm could easily delay delivery until after Christmas.
Moral of the story: Shop early and not have to worry about it.
See Also: Amazon Prime Package Arrives Late? Here’s What You Can Get for FREE
What About Target and Walmart?
Glad you asked. Here is how their holiday shipping schedules currently break down:
Target
December 17th: 3-5 day Standard Shipping
December 20th: 2-Day Shipping (Contiguous U.S. Only)
December 23rd: Express Shipping (Contiguous U.S. Only)
Walmart
December 17th: 3-5 day Standard Shipping
December 20th: 2-Day Shipping (Contiguous U.S. Only)
December 23rd: Next Day Shipping (Contiguous U.S. Only)
Ask the Reader: When are you planning on wrapping up your holiday shopping this year?
By Kyle James