Although more families will be together this holiday season, there will still be plenty of people sending holiday gifts to their loved ones, and the U.S. Postal Service is expecting another busy season.
While 2020 was a record year, with 13-billion letters, cards and package processed and delivered, the USPS is expecting equally high numbers this year. In fact, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the Postal Service anticipates delivering between 850- and 950-million packages. When you add in letters and cards, they estimate they’ll be delivering more than 12-billion items this year. They expect to deliver more mail and packages to homes than any other shipper.
To help get things to their destinations by the holidays, starting November 28th, the USPS will expand delivery to Sundays in most major cities. They expect to deliver more than 9.7-million packages each Sunday throughout the holidays.
December 13thto 18this expected to be the busiest mailing, shipping and delivery week. Close to 2.3-billion pieces of First-Class Mail, including greeting cards ad packages, will be processed and delivered during that week. Of course, if you want your packages to get their on-time for holiday celebrations, there are some shipping cut off dates you need to know.
Important dates include (not including Hawaii and Alaska):
- December 15th — USPS Retail Ground service
- December 17th — First-Class Mail service (including greeting cards)
- December 17th — First-Class packages (up to 15.99 ounces)
- December 18th — Priority Mail service
- December 23rd — Priority Mail Express service
Source:USPS