The Postal Service has recommended deadlines for the holiday mailing and shipping season.
The suggestions, released Oct. 8, are for expected delivery by Dec. 25 to domestic, Air/Army Post Office (APO), Fleet Post Office (FPO) and Diplomatic Post Office (DPO) addresses.
Here are the deadlines:
- Nov. 6: APO, FPO and DPO addresses (all ZIP Codes), USPS Retail Ground service
- Dec. 9: APO, FPO and DPO addresses (ZIP Code 093 only), Priority Mail and First-Class Mail services
- Dec. 11: APO, FPO and DPO (all other ZIP Codes), Priority Mail and First-Class Mail services
- Dec. 15: USPS Retail Ground service
- Dec. 18: APO, FPO, DPO (except ZIP Code 093), USPS Priority Mail Express service
- Dec. 18: First-Class Mail service, including greeting cards
- Dec. 18: First-Class Mail packages (up to 15.99 ounces)
- Dec. 19: Priority Mail service
- Dec. 23: Priority Mail Express service
USPS expects customer traffic to increase during the week of Dec. 7, with the period of Dec. 14-21 predicted to be the season’s busiest for mailing, shipping and delivery.
More than 13 million customers are expected to use usps.com on Dec. 14, making it the Postal Service’s busiest day online this holiday season. Among these customers, almost 500,000 are expected to use the Click-N-Ship feature.
The Postal Service released additional deadlines for military shipping this week.
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