Here is the Latest That Holiday Presents Should Ship From Maine to Arrive On Time

It's the time of year where one of two things happen:

1) Our hearts go out to the delivery men and women working with the United States Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, Amazon, and any other parcel service for the insane influx of packages they have to deliver.

2) We get extra New England snarky and talk a bunch of smack to the above-mentioned delivery men, women, and companies for items being delayed due to said insane influx of packages.

Holiday Mail

Between Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa cards, Cyber Monday orders, Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa gifts, and just regular every day Amazon orders and mail deliveries, this is the time of year where everything gets wonky for delivery agencies.

In fact, if you're friends with any delivery people or follow them on social media, more often than not, around this time of year, they'll post on their "stories" the amount of packages stuffed into the back of their vehicles to deliver just in one day.

And, considering more often than not, their delivery load is doubled, or sometimes even tripled, compared to a normal day, it's understandable why delays occur. (It doesn't mean customers won't still go off on said delivery service providers, but it's understandable at the very least.)

USPS Notice

According to recent mailers sent out by the United States Postal Service, in an attempt to get ahead of the game and ensure that every customer's holiday package reaches its destination by said holiday (and, truthfully, the focus seems to generally just be on Christmas deliveries), three dates have been provided as the latest to get gifts shipped by in order to be delivered before Christmas Day.

If using USPS Ground Advantage Service, packages should be sent out no later than Saturday, December 16.

For customers using Priority Mail Service, send by Monday, December 18.

And if Priority Mail Express Service is selected, be sure to get packages in the mail by Wednesday, December 20.

Hanukkah 2023

For what it's worth, though, using deductive reasoning based on the dates provided to have packages delivered in time for Christmas, with Hanukkah beginning on Thursday, December 7, an assumption can be made for the following in order to have gifts received before the first of the eight celebrated nights:

If using USPS Ground Advantage Service, send by Tuesday, November 28.

For customers using Priority Mail Service, send by Thursday, November 30.

And if Priority Mail Express Service is selected, be sure to get packages in the mail by Saturday, December 2.

Author's Note: I admittedly know nothing but delivering mail, though, so don't use those dates as gospel. I don't want your botched Hanukkah delivery on my conscience.