Shipping Christmas Gifts? Important Deadlines to Keep in Mind

Every year millions of people ship Christmas gifts off to family and friends that live too far to visit in person. To get those gifts to the person before Christmas, there are a few important dates to remember.

Depending on who you plan to ship your gifts through, there will be different deadlines. Keep in mind that the longer you wait to ship your packages, the more it will cost you. Here are the most common companies used to ship Christmas gifts and the deadlines they have to get your packages to their destination by Christmas day...

United States Postal Service Deadlines

Depending on the service you plan to use there are different deadlines. If you are going to utilize the USPS Retail Ground Service or the First-Class Mail Service the deadline is Saturday, December 17th. This is also the deadline to make sure that any Christmas cards you send arrive on time. You get a few extra days for the pricier Priority Mail Service. That deadline is Monday, December 19th. The deadline for Priority Mail Express Service is Friday, December 23rd. Additional information is on the www.usps.com website.

FedEx Deadlines

To use FedEx Ground, the last day to ship will be on Wednesday, December 14th. The cheaper Ground Economy service deadline is Thursday, December 8th. You get a little longer if you use FedEx Express services. Depending on the service you use, the deadlines vary. For FedEx Express Saver service the deadline is Tuesday, December 20th. Their 2 Day service gives you an extra day with a deadline of Wednesday, December 21st. First Overnight and Priority Overnight service deadline is Thursday, December 22nd. And the last day for their FedEx Same Day service will be Friday, December 23rd. See a complete list of shipping deadlines on the www.fedex.com website.

United Parcel Service (UPS) Deadlines

The deadline for the UPS 3-day Select Service is Tuesday, December 20th. The last day to ship UPS 2nd Day Air packages is Wednesday, December 21st. The final day to ship UPS Next Day Air is Thursday, December 22nd. More detailed shipping information is on the www.ups.com website.

Get your shopping finished and packages shipped as soon as possible to guarantee that they arrive by Christmas day, Sunday, December 25th.