The U.S. Post Office has set these deadlines for you to get your mail to its lucky recipients by Christmas:
- December 11 – letters and cards internationally—some parts of the world have an earlier deadline.
- December 15 – Parcel Post.
- December 20 – letters and cards 1st class mail, Priority Mail.
- December 22 - Express Mail.
FedEx has set these deadlines for Christmas:
- December 17 - FedEx Ground.
- December 20 – FedEx 2Day.
- December 22 - FedEx Overnight Services.
DHL has set these deadlines for Christmas:
- December 20 – 2Day Shipments.
- December 22 – Express Shipments.
UPS has set this deadline for Christmas:
- December 21 – Ground Shipments, Next Day Air packages for delivery December 24.
Sending Greetings!
The U.S. Postal Service has a number of different kinds of stamps to honor a variety of cultures. There are stamps for Hanukkah, Eid, Kwanzaa in addition to a Christmas stamp. A new series this holiday season is the Holiday Knits—a classic way to send off warm winter greetings. Images of a stag, teddy bear, snowman and a snow-dappled evergreen adorn these stamps. You can go to a website www.stamps.com where you can print yourself official U.S. Postal Service postage directly from your pc and printer. Using this website you can even print addresses directly on envelopes. Sure is helpful if handwriting is time-consuming or cumbersome for you. It also lets you add insurance for your valuables in the mail.
This year the Post Office expects to mail about 20 billion letters, cards and packages. Keep these tips in mind as you prep your own packages for mailing:
- Inform the lucky recipient when, and by what service, you dropped off their package so they can try to be home to sign for it. Or they can write instructions on their front door for the delivery person.
- When sealing up your package don’t reach for the cellophane tape, duct tape, masking tape or string. Instead use tape designed for shipping—nylon reinforced or fiberglass reinforced pressure sensitive tapes. Oh, and cover ALL seams—even those on the bottom!
- Just in case the address label gets damaged, place a backup inside the box on an index card.
- If you are sending goodies (perishables), use airtight containers and place in the middle of the box so that items around them act as insulation. Spend extra to get it to its destination faster—fresher and more delicious.
- If you are sending toys with batteries, take the batteries out so that there isn’t the possibility of the toy getting switched on during handling and beeping/moving and draining all the power during its days in transit.
- Pack gifts tight using wadded up plastic grocery bags instead of buying packing peanuts. The bags are lightweight and flexible and you’ve probably got too many on hand anyway.
- If you want to take the edge off shipper sticker shock and dismay, some of the largest shipping services, such as the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and The UPS Store all let you figure what your cost would be using various shipping options from the comfort of your pc.
Now, box up those gifts and make like Kris Kringle to your favorite shipper. The countdown to Christmas has already begun!