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U.S. postal carriers have published their recommended dates for customers to ship their mail so that packages, letters and other shipments arrive before the Christmas holidays.
The U.S. Postal Service recommends domestic mail for destinations in the contiguous United States be sent before December 15th for those who use its ground service. The recommended date is December 17 for first class mail, December 18 for priority mail and December 23 for priority express mail.
FedEx Corp.
FDX 0.68%
said the last day to ship most ground parcels is December 15th. For land economy parcels, this day is December 9. The last day of shipping for customers using FedEx Express is December 21 through Christmas Eve, depending on the type of express option chosen. Customers using FedEx Priority or Direct Freight must ship these packages by December 15th. FedEx Economy Freight packages must be shipped by December 9.
Satellite images show the scale of the backlog at California ports, as lingering supply chain problems now threaten the holiday shopping season. Jennifer Smith of the WSJ explains what is causing the ship and cargo blockages. Photo: Planet Labs Inc
United UPS Parcel Service 0.14%
recommends that customers who want their domestic packages to arrive by December 24th to ship them between December 21 and 23 at the latest whether they use UPS 3-day select or UPS on the second day or the next day. Customers can calculate the time and cost for domestic UPS ground shipping on the company’s website.
The 2021 dates are largely in line with last year’s shipping recommendations. UPS has kept its shipping dates the same as in 2020. FedEx also kept its ground dates, while the Postal Service brought forward its shipping dates for first class and priority mail by one day. .
Letter carriers in 2020 struggled with the volume of shipments sent before the first holiday season during the pandemic, when more people shopped online. FedEx and USPS have both informed some of their larger customers that any additional vacation order trailers are going to have to wait to be picked up as most of their capacity is being taken into account. Smaller carriers have also booked capacity for the holiday months earlier than normal.
FedEx expects significantly more ground capacity for peak 2021 because of its infrastructure investments, chief operating officer and chairman Rajesh Subramaniam told analysts during the company’s first quarter earnings call last month.
About 300 customers are UPS’s peak volume, CEO Carol Tomé said during the company’s earnings call in late July.
“We sit down with each of them, understanding what their screenings are, what their promotions are, how do they feel about the holiday season,†she said.
The Postal Service said earlier this year that it plans to add 138 new parcel sorting machines before the holiday season and open 45 ancillary facilities to help with any parcel overflow.
But even with increased capacity, vacation plans for retailers and others this year are further complicated by traffic jams at seaports, supply chain disruptions, and higher prices for materials and labor. ‘artwork. Shipping rates, meanwhile, are rising faster than they’ve been in nearly a decade.
Write to Allison Prang at [email protected]
Corrections and amplifications
The U.S. Postal Service recommends a December 15 mail deadline for its domestic ground service in the contiguous United States.
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Published in the print edition of October 13, 2021.
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