Christmas Shipping

Timing Is Everything

Christmas is the same date every year, but it still seems to sneak up on many people. With family members and friends being spread across the United States, gifts get shipped now more than ever. So, how can you ensure that your gifts will arrive on time?

Here is a shipping date cheat sheet to get your gifts where they need to be when they need to be there:

Delivery by Friday, December 21:

• UPS 2nd Day Air on Wednesday, Dec. 19
• UPS Next Day Air on Thursday Dec. 20
• FedEx 2 Day on Wednesday, Dec. 19

Delivery by Saturday, December 22:

• UPS 2nd Day Air on Thursday, December 20
• UPS Next Day Air on Friday, Dec. 21
• FedEx Overnight on Friday, Dec. 21
• FedEx 2 Day on Thursday, Dec. 20

Delivery by Monday, December 24:

• UPS 2nd Day Air on Thursday, Dec. 20
• UPS Next Day Air on Friday, Dec. 21

FedEx says it’s sorting and shipping 200 packages per second this year and if that doesn’t make your head spin, nothing will. A record number 19 million packages were processed in one day (Monday, Dec. 10) alone. An increase in online shipping this year has attributed to the record shipping numbers. FedEx warns that their deadline for ground shipping is Wednesday, Dec. 17 - you can wait until the 22nd, but it’s not recommended if you want a Christmas delivery.

UPS will have its busiest day Dec. 20 as they try to get gifts to their destination by Christmas Eve. The busiest day for US Postal service will be Monday, Dec. 17 as they plan to move approximately 650 million cards and letters.

The takeaway: Ship early if you can to avoid the added stress during the holidays. Did you know after Black Friday (Nov. 25) there are only 20 regular delivery days before Christmas?