Here’s the Shipping Deadlines to guarantee Christmas gifts arrive on time

last minute shopping 1

Last-minute shopping is a pretty popular thing, especially around the holidays. Many of us like to procrastinate until the very last minute. But with holiday shopping, that’s a bit tougher. Since no one is delivering on Christmas Day this year, and Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday this year. So you’re going to want to be aware of the shipping cut of dates for carriers as well as stores. So you can get your shopping and shipping done, in time for the gifts to arrive for Christmas.

In this article, we have rounded up the deadlines for shipping via USPS, FedEx, and UPS. As well as shipping from select retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Dell, Sam’s Club, Walmart and a few others. So you can go ahead and plan ahead of time and get your gifts ordered earlier.

Keep in mind that delays are still possible. While the global shipping chain has mostly recovered since the pandemic, it’s still not quite as fast as it was before the pandemic. So it’s a good idea to not wait until December 23 to do your shopping.

Deadlines for Shipping Carriers

This includes the USPS, UPS and FedEx. Remember that the USPS will deliver on Sundays, so you do get an extra day for shipping there. But the longer you wait, across all three carriers, the more you’re going to pay to get it there on time. None of them will deliver on Christmas Day, so these all need to arrive by Christmas Eve, on December 24.

U.S. Postal Service Christmas Shipping Deadlines

  • Dec. 17 – USPS Retail Ground
  • Dec. 17 – First-Class Mail Service (including holiday greeting cards)
  • Dec. 19 – Priority Mail
  • Dec. 23 – Priority Mail Express Service

Keep in mind that if you are shipping to Alaska or Hawaii, you will want to get your packages out by December 17th for First-Class Mail Service.

UPS Christmas Shipping Deadlines

  • Dec. 16 – UPS Ground
    Calculate estimated UPS ground shipping arrival dates using this UPS link
    (typical Ground delivery takes between one and five business days in the U.S.)
  • Dec. 20 – UPS 3 Day Select
  • Dec. 21 – UPS 2nd Day Air
  • Dec. 22 – UPS Next Day Air

FedEx Christmas Shipping Deadlines

  • Dec. 8 – FedEx Ground Economy
  • Dec. 14 – FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery
  • Dec. 20 – FedEx Express Saver
  • Dec. 21 – FedEx 2Day AM and FedEx 2Day
  • Dec. 22 – FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight and FedEx Standard Overnight
  • Dec. 23 – FedEx SameDay City (Standard), FedEx SameDay and FedEx SameDay City (Priority)

Amazon holiday eCommerce

Deadlines for retailers

Amazon Ordering Cutoff Dates 

Amazon is a great option if you are waiting until the very last minute for shopping. Especially if you are a Prime Member, as you can still get same-day delivery, even on Christmas Eve. If you’re not a Prime member, make sure to sign up for this 30-day free trial.

Below are the estimated shipping deadlines for Amazon deliveries to arrive in time. Your best bet is to get things done before December 23. As you could still run into unforeseen issues with shipping.

  • Dec. 15 – Standard Shipping
  • Dec. 22 – Two-Day Shipping (Free with Prime)
  • Dec. 23 – One-Day Shipping (In select cities. Free with Prime)
  • Dec. 24 – Same-Day Delivery – 5 p.m. local time – (In select cities. Free with Prime)
  • Dec. 24 – Two-Hour Delivery – cutoff times vary depending on availability – (In select cities. Free and exclusive for Prime Members via Prime Now)

Best Buy

Over at Best Buy, all items say when they ship by or when they will arrive. You can also choose from in-store or curbside pick-up for select items if you wait until the last minute. Which will be ready in about an hour or less, as long as it’s available at that store.

  • Dec. 20 – Standard Shipping (3-5 business days) – free on orders $35+
  • Dec. 23 – Next Day Shipping on qualifying products
  • Dec. 24 – Same Day Delivery on qualifying products (orders before Noon local time), or pick up in stores.

For store pick-up, dates are a bit different.

  • Dec. 23 – Orders on Bestbuy.com and select “Fast Store Pickup” and your order will be ready within an hour.
  • Dec. 24 – Order on Bestbuy.com by 5PM local time and select “Fast Store Pickup” and your order will be ready by 6PM.

Dell

Dell offers free standard shipping, however, that cutoff is just a few hours away. There is Expedited Delivery available for a $15 fee, and Express Delivery available for a $25 charge. Those charges are not too bad, since it’s a flat fee, instead of based on what you buy. Which is how it works with most other retailers.

  • Dec. 15 – Free standard shipping (3 p.m. ET cutoff)
  • Dec. 18 –  Expedited Delivery on select items (3 p.m. ET cutoff)
  • Dec. 22 –  Express Delivery on select items (3 p.m. ET cutoff)

Sam’s Club

Sam’s Club has standard and express shipping available for all of its members, regardless of your membership level. The price of shipping will depend on what you are actually buying. But with the Plus membership, you will get free shipping on most products.

  • Dec. 17 – Standard shipping (12 p.m. local time cutoff)
  • Dec. 21 – Express shipping (12 p.m. local time cutoff)

Target

Target’s app and drive-up pick-up have made shopping speedier. If you don’t want to pay for shipping on orders under $35 or you need your gift quickly, try Target’s free drive-up pickup. Additionally, RedCard holders can get free two-day shipping on many items.

  • Dec. 17 – Standard 3-5 business day shipping. Free shipping on orders $35+
  • Dec. 22 – Two-Day Shipping – Free on select items with Target RedCard

Walmart and Walmart+ 

Orders over $35 ship free on Walmart.com – no membership required. But you can also sign up for a 15-day free Walmart+ free trial and have unlimited items from your local Walmart delivered to your door the same day for free to save you on Christmas Eve. This can be useful for more than last-minute gifts, but also anything you forgot to buy for Christmas Dinner.

  • Dec. 17 – Standard 3-5 Day Shipping
  • Dec. 22 – Two-Day Delivery (2 p.m. local time cutoff)
  • Dec. 21 – Next-Day Delivery (cutoff times vary) – select items
  • Dec. 23 – Pickup Same Day (4 p.m. local time cutoff) – select items
  • Dec. 24 – Pickup Same Day (4 p.m. local time cutoff) – select items

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