What to know before shipping your vacation packages with USPS this year

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To ensure gifts and cards arrive in time for Christmas, the U.S. Postal Service is urging shoppers to have their holiday packages shipped early this year.

As the economy has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, shortages and price spikes have hit all kinds of products and goods, prompting retailers to also recommend that consumers buy early or risk not. not find the products they want to offer for the holidays.

In addition to supply issues, the USPS has slowed mail delivery and reduced hours of operation for post offices across the country. The new standards will increase delivery times by 39% for first class mail and 93% for periodicals such as magazines.

The adjustments are part of “Delivering for America,” the Postal Service’s 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence, according to the USPS.

At the same time, persistent congestion issues at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports could impact supply over the coming months.

Price increases

A temporary price increase is in place until Dec. 26 for retail and business customers for popular shipping products, including military shipping.

“These temporary rates will allow the Postal Service to remain competitive while providing the agency with the revenue necessary to cover additional costs in anticipation of peak peaks in peak season similar to levels recorded in 2020,” the USPS said in a statement. communicated. “Even with the temporary increase, the postal service has some of the lowest postal rates in the industrialized world and continues to offer excellent shipping values.”

Temporary price increases for Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, Parcel Select Ground, and USPS
First-class ground and package retail services are as follows:

• PM and PME flat rate boxes and envelopes – $ 0.75
• Zones 1-4, 0-10 lb. – $ 0.25
• Zones 5-9, 0-10 lb. – $ 0.75
• Zones 1-4, 11-20 lbs. – $ 1.50
• Zones 5-9, 11-20lbs. – $ 3.00
• Zones 1-4, 21-70 lb. – $ 2.50
• Zones 5-9, 21-70 lb. – $ 5.00
• First Class Package Service – $ 0.30

A local zone price calculator is available online.

International products are not affected by the price increase.

Shipping times for the 2021 holidays

The USPS recommends the following mailing and shipping deadlines for scheduled delivery to national addresses by Christmas Day, December 25.

  • November 6 – USPS Retail Ground (Air / Army Post Office / Fleet Post Office / Diplomatic Post Office)
  • December 9 – Priority Mail and First Class Mail to (Air Post Office / Army / Fleet Post Office / Diplomatic Post Office)
  • December 15 – USPS Retail Ground
  • December 16 – USPS Priority Mail Express Military (Air Post Office / Army / Fleet Post Office / Diplomatic Post Office)
  • December 17 – First Class Mail
  • December 17 – First Class Packages (smaller, up to 15.99 ounces)
  • December 18 – Priority mail
  • December 23 – Priority Mail Express

Tips for shipping during holidays

The busiest time of the season for the USPS begins two weeks before Christmas. Customer traffic at all post offices is expected to increase steadily from the week of December 6, with the week of December 13-18 to be the busiest mailing, shipping and delivery week of the season. .

Avoid the trip to the post office and visit usps.com. The Postal Service predicts that December 19 will be its busiest day online, with 12.5 million consumers expected to visit the website for help shipping this special holiday gift.

The USPS estimates that nearly 500,000 consumers will use the Click-N-Ship functionality and other online services on December 14 to order free priority mailboxes, print shipping labels, purchase postage and even
request free pickup of the package the next day.

You can get Priority Mail flat rate boxes at local post offices free of charge or order them in line. You can also schedule a free parcel pickup when the carrier delivers your mail.

And, holiday and winter themed stamps are available in line or in one of the more than 34,000 post offices.

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