As the holidays quickly approach, finding the time to purchase presents for your friends and loved ones becomes harder and harder until suddenly you're one of those people doing last-minute Christmas shopping. However, this is the year you put your foot down, and the United States Postal Service (USPS) is here to help with a big heads-up.

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Beat The Rush

The last couple of months have been an insanely busy time for USPS. The Postal Service already handled a huge influx of mail for election season and things are only going to stay busy heading into the holidays. In 2022, the Postal Service processed "more than 11.7 billion mailpieces and packages during the holiday season".

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That's why you must get your packages in the mail sooner than later. How early? The USPS has released a full "deadline' list to ensure your packages arrive before Christmas morning.

When To Ship By

For a full breakdown of the USPS shipping dates, you can view them here. However, these are the highlights:

United States

  • Anywhere in the Lower 48 States:
    • December 18th
  • Alaska & Hawaii
    • December 16th

While you can wait a week before the 25th in the US and be okay, you're going to have to be very on the ball if you're shipping internationally.

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International

  • Asia & Australia/New Zealand & Canada & Caribbean & Europe & Mexico & Middle East
    • December 9th
  • Central & South America & Africa
    • December 2nd

Many of your international shipping needs to be done by December 9th unless you're willing to pay extra for priority shipping.

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