You have to be the unluckiest person while being on a shopping spree in November if the delivery date of your packages coincides with Black Friday or Thanksgiving.
Some people wish their package could be received sooner, so they look for the perfect undisturbed week, or if the post office & mail delivery is open on Black Friday, other holidays, or in between.
Are you one of them? Yes?
Then you are in the right place at the right time. Black Friday is on its way and it’s one of the most famous and busiest days in the USA. It falls on Friday, November 25th this year.
Almost all stores and online shopping platforms across the country open their doors, giving pretty good deals on products ahead of Christmas to attract more customers on upcoming occasions.
However, keep in mind, that it’s a big event for Americans, and increasingly across the rest of the world, Black Friday is not a national holiday. That’s why it creates a lot of misunderstanding.
Black Friday not being a federal holiday some post offices are opened, and mail should be delivered as normal.
But in California and other states, things are a little different…
California and many other states observe this day as a holiday, so most schools and offices are closed, and workers get to celebrate the mini-vacation by taking the day off.
So, does the mail run on black Friday? Or X post office would be open? Questions like these start to arise.
Bear with us. Here is everything you need to know whether the post office, mail delivery, FedEx, and UPS are open or closed on Black Friday.
Are you in a hurry? Have a look at the table of content…
Table of Contents
Is Friday A Business Day, In General?
One reason you may wonder if the USPS, FedEx is open on Black Friday is that you’re not sure even if the USPS operates on Fridays at all.
So, yes, Friday is a business day for the USPS that we’re sure of. The only official off weekday is Sunday, in regards to normal weekdays – which means USPS is open on Monday and Saturday.
But what generally happens on unofficial holidays?
On federal holidays, post offices and mail delivery are completely closed. According to USPS, these are some holidays that are recognized as national weekdays:
- New Year’s Day,
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day,
- Memorial Day,
- Independence Day,
- Labor Day,
- Veterans Day,
- Thanksgiving Day,
- Christmas Day.
To know the confirmed holidays, you can visit the USPS website here. More or less, FedEx’s holiday shipping schedule is also the same as USPS.
However, FedEx has given us a little bit of edge over international holidays recognized by them on their website here. You just have to choose your language and region, and you’re good to go.
Meanwhile, Check out the USPS Mail Tracking Here.
But will there be mail delivery on Black Friday?
In the USPS case, post offices will remain open on November 25th. The majority of locations open between 8:00 – 9:00 AM, and close at around 4:30 PM. But sometimes, they stay open for a little longer hour upto like 8:00 PM.
But to stay on the safer side, USPS has a store locator feature that allows senders to check local opening times.
Did you know that before? And don’t forget the peak surcharges might also apply. On Black Friday, UPS Air Service Modifications will be in effect too.
In FedEx’s case, FedEx Express will be running early on-call, adjusted regular pickups, and drop box closings in some areas.
FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery, and FedEx SmartPost will be open, but FedEx Freight will probably be closed. FedEx Office will operate on modified hours, locations would be open by 7 AM.
You can use the FedEx store locator feature to get localized times to be extra sure.
Can We Pick Up Mail Before It’s Delivered?
Yes, you can pick up mail before the USPS delivers it. For FedEx, express packages and palletized freight are often available for pickup even before the scheduled delivery time at a nearby FedEx office or World Service Center.
But if you’re a UPS person, if you’re part of UPS-MyChoice, you can opt in to have your packages routed to any UPS Access Point in your delivery zone.
But there’s also another way, we call it a ‘way of luck’
According to what service you’re using, If you can estimate when your mail or package is going to arrive at your post office, you can show up early before the mail leaves on the trucks.
You can directly ask the post office worker for your mail by providing the order details. They can get it for you, and you’re able to get your hands on it before it’s on the truck.
For this to work, you’ve to show up at the office early, too. This might encourage the postal worker to set your mail to the side if they expect you to show up each day.
How much is the surcharge going to cost?
Don’t get happy too soon, we’re expecting the postal service to announce its peak holiday surcharges for FedEx, USPS, and UPS.
In USPS, any parcel shipped with an impacted service with any side exceeding 22” in length will cost an extra $4 surcharge!!!
For larger parcels, if their length exceeds more than 30”, or the parcel is over 2 cubic feet in size, it will cost a $15 surcharge.
Moreover, if the dimensions you entered on your parcel are incorrect and result in a massive charge, you’ll get a $1.50 extra surcharge of that too.
And while we’re at it, UPS Next Day Air Early and UPS Worldwide Express Plus services will be extended by 90 minutes, with other UPS Air and international Air deliveries will extend to the end of the day.
The holiday schedule can be downloaded from the UPS website. And if to download the January surcharge PDF sheet for 2022, you can click here
And in FedEx’s case, 2022 peak season surcharges are also out:
| Surcharge name | Services affected | Surcharge per PKG |
|---|---|---|
| Peak — Additional Handling Surcharge | U.S. Express Package Services, U.S. Ground Services, International Ground Service | $3.45 (Sept. 5 – Oct. 2) $6.55 (Oct. 3 – Jan. 15) |
| Peak — Oversize Charge | U.S. Express Package Services, U.S. Ground Services, International Ground Service | $39.50 (Sept. 5 – Oct. 2) $68.75 (Oct. 3 – Jan. 15) |
| Peak — Ground Unauthorized Package Charge | U.S. Ground Services, International Ground Service | $385 (Oct. 3 – Jan. 15) |
| Peak Surcharge | FedEx Ground Economy Package Services | $1.50 (Oct. 31 – Nov. 27, Dec. 12 – Jan. 15) $2.50 (Nov. 28 – Dec. 11) |
| Peak — Residential Delivery Charge | FedEx Express and FedEx Ground U.S. domestic residential packages (excluding FedEx Ground Economy and FedEx One Rate packages) | Based on the shipper’s “peaking factor” (Oct. 31 – Jan. 15) |
SOURCE: FedEx
Why even shipping delays on Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales?
The reason is very simple. Black Friday and Cyber Monday delivery delays because there is a huge shopping volume condensed into one single day or week.
Besides the longer delivery times due to a load of orders, you might be facing this situation due to:
- Misspelled or incomplete package address
- Wrong information on the order form (wrong postal code)
- Package redirection (change of delivery address);
- Customs delays
- Failed delivery attempts (the recipient was not at home).
It’s always recommended to check all of these mentioned things before sending the delivery so, it can be sent to the right person and the right time.
Final thoughts on “Mail Delivery On Black Friday”
FYI: We and other delivery services recommend customers get an early start on holiday shopping and shipping due to Black Friday being later this year.
The best thing is we gather the best opening times for the stores and restaurants on Black Friday having the best deals.
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