Christmas shoppers, beware! The window to do your holiday shipping is closing

By CNN Newsource

Published December 20, 2023 12:24 PM

By Jennifer Korn, CNN

(CNN) — With Christmas just days away, shoppers have a shrinking window to get holiday shopping done and shipping started.

A wide range of unanticipated problems might delay shipping around the holidays: surging delivery volume, inclement weather, out of stock items and ground shipping risks.

“At this point I don’t typically recommend that people do ground shipping and take their chances,” shopping expert Trae Bodge told CNN. “If a retailer is shipping from that same state, you may think it may arrive in a day, but, because of the volume of packages being shipped around the country, I just worry that you might encounter bottlenecks and delays. I would be very mindful.”

Despite the potential issues, procrastinators can still find a way to get their gifts on time. “It’s not doomsday if you’ve waited until the last minute,” Bodge said. “There are many options.”

For those still wrapping up their holiday shopping, here are the still-upcoming final shipping dates in the US for the 2023 season:

UPS: The recommended last days to ship for Dec. 23 delivery are:

-Ground: check ups.com/ctc for details

-2nd Day Air: Dec. 20 (or Dec. 21 with Saturday Delivery options)

-Next Day Air: Dec. 21 (or Dec. 22 with Saturday Delivery options)

There is no UPS pickup or delivery service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

USPS: Here are the cutoff dates for expected delivery in time for Christmas in the lower 48 US states:

-Ground: Dec. 20

-Priority Mail: Dec. 21

-Priority Mail Express: Dec. 21

-First-Class Mail: Dec. 20

-Connect Local: Dec. 22 (for carrier pickup) or Dec. 23 (for post office drop-off by 7am)

Alaska: Priority Mail: Dec. 20, Priority Mail Express: Dec. 20

Hawaii: Priority Mail Express: Dec. 20

USPS noted that the actual delivery date varies based on conditions including origin, destination and post office acceptance time, with the last scheduled delivery day.

The last scheduled delivery day is December 23, unless shipping with Priority Mail Express and paying the holiday premium fee, in which case the last delivery day is Christmas Eve.

FedEx: Here are the shipping deadlines for delivery on or before Christmas Eve:

– SameDay: Dec. 22

– 2nd Day and 2nd Day a.m.: Dec. 20

– 1 day Freight: Dec. 21

– 2 day Freight: Dec. 20

Amazon:

Amazon is shipping at least through Christmas Eve, placing a note next to relevant items that are still able to arrive by then with a “Arrives before Christmas” label.