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The holiday shopping season has begun early this year, hastened by supply chain issues that threaten to delay packages and turn your grin into a Grinch.
In this article, I’ll detail some major shipping deadlines to help you send your packages in time to have them delivered before December 25, 2021.
Let’s look at the 2021 holiday shipping schedules for the major shipping companies: the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), FedEx and the United Parcel Service (UPS). The following deadlines apply to the contiguous U.S. states (the lower 48):
| Services | Send-By Dates |
|---|---|
| Retail Ground Shipping | Wednesday, December 15 |
| First Class Mail Service | Friday, December 17 |
| Priority Mail Service | Saturday, December 18 |
| Priority Mail Express Service | Thursday, December 23 |
See USPS.com for international shipping deadlines for the holidays.
| Services | Send-By Dates |
|---|---|
| Ground shipping and home delivery | Wednesday, December 15 |
| Ground Economy | Thursday, December 9 |
| Freight Priority | Wednesday, December 15 |
| Freight Economy | Thursday, December 9 |
| Freight Direct | Wednesday, December 15 |
See FedEx.com for international shipping deadlines for the holidays.
| Services | Send-By Dates |
|---|---|
| Ground shipments | Within 5 days |
| 3 Day Select shipments | Tuesday, December 21 |
| 2nd Day Air services | Wednesday, December 22 |
| Next Day Air services | Saturday, December 23 |
See UPS.com for international shipping deadlines for the holidays.
Because of expected shipping delays, it’s a good idea to shop earlier than you normally would this year, according to money expert Clark Howard.
“You want to start shopping extra early and be as scientific as you can about prices as we move through the Christmas shopping season,” Clark says. “It’s up to you and me to do more legwork than we have in the past online and in person, tracking prices and availability of goods.”
Want to know when to save? Read Clark’s holiday shopping predictions.
This post was last modified on October 22, 2021 9:11 am
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