Holiday Season Direct Mail Delivery

We have all used the USPS services at some point. Businesses either use USPS to complete online orders or send out direct mail items. Not just businesses, but even individuals widely use their services to send out postcards and letters and to receive bills.

The USPS is a government body and has been in existence for many decades. However, there are still a lot of people who do not know answers to questions like “does mail run on Thanksgiving?”

All USPS services are much cheaper than other courier services. Moreover, their service quality is also good. Postal workers work for five or six days a week and sometimes even seven to fulfill high demand. The demand is especially high during the holidays when the USPS sees a sudden surge during the time of Thanksgiving until New Year’s.

There are a lot of federal holidays when the USPS workers are on leave, and hence you cannot expect to either deposit or receive mail on that day. Though, sometimes deliveries are completed during these days during fixed hours.

Will mail be delivered on Friday after Thanksgiving? The day after Thanksgiving is a Friday and is referred to as Black Friday. Anonymously, many people think that since Thanksgiving is a holiday, Black Friday is a federal holiday too. But, it is not even though it is considered a state holiday in a lot of states in the US and 80% of the USPS employees have paid leave.

However, all post offices work during regular working hours on this day and the mail services operate normally. Hence, mail delivery after Thanksgiving is completed as per regular delivery schedules.

Other than Thanksgiving, there are several more holidays when the USPS is not in function. It is important to note down all such holidays to avoid getting into trouble at the last minute.

Direct mail marketers must familiarize themselves with post office timings, working hours, holidays, services, and more. Also, note that stamps are not available for purchase on holidays. From small businesses to large corporations, everyone should know these things if they have ever dealt with mail.

Find below the list of 2023 holidays and check whether the post office is working on these days.

• January 1 – New Year’s Day
• January 18 – Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday
• February 15 – Presidents’ Day
• May 31 – Memorial Day
• July 5 – Independence Day
• September 6 – Labor Day
• October 11 – Columbus Day
• November 11 – Veterans Day
• November 25 – Thanksgiving
• December 25 – Christmas

The USPS normally works only on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, President’s Day, and Columbus Day. On all the remaining holidays, the USPS is officially closed for business and operations, except for the Priority Mail Express deliveries.

Companies must consider these holidays while drafting their mailing schedules so that they can plan everything accordingly and not face any time-limit issues. Furthermore, they should also consider “Observed Holidays.” Whenever a federal holiday falls on Saturday or Sunday, the holiday is “observed” on either the preceding Friday or the following Monday, respectively.

Hence, for example, if Independence Day happens to fall on a Sunday, it is observed the next day. The primary intention of observed holidays is to save employees from not being able to take an off just because the holiday happened to fall on a weekend. You should also know that Good Friday is not considered a public holiday.

Is mail delayed due to holidays? Yes, the huge and ever-growing demand that the USPS is bombarded with due to holidays can result in significant delivery delays. During holidays, the number of mail items that the USPS has to process increases dramatically.

To understand this surge, you need to know what types of mail items are sent during the holidays.

Greeting Cards

While most people have stopped sending greeting cards in the mail, they still remain popular, especially between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. In fact, at least a billion greeting cards are sold each year, and most of these are sent in the mail. People expect that their cards will reach the intended recipients before Christmas or New Year’s.

Ecommerce Parcels

With more and more people shopping online, the eCommerce industry continues to skyrocket. Thereby, the USPS faces the challenge of transporting eCommerce packages in huge quantities, specifically during the holidays when people shop the most.

Direct Mail

There are a lot of holiday season and end-of-the-year sales that businesses wish to promote during the holiday season. Therefore, direct mail items also form a big part of the postal crowd around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

So, it is clear that everyone from individuals to business owners sends out mail items during holidays leading to the piling up of mail items that in return lead to late deliveries.

Given that mail deliveries are delayed in the holiday season, it is recommended that all individuals and companies give themselves an additional buffer time. With proper planning and scheduling, direct mail marketers can get their mail delivered on time, even around the occasional USPS slowdowns.

Some fresh factors like the coronavirus and spiked eCommerce business are also responsible for delays. While marketers cannot predict exact delay periods, they can surely mail a few days earlier to be on the safe side. Hence, setting aside buffer time is the way to go. PostGrid‘s print and mail API can help you create and print mail items at the perfect time to mail them out and get them delivered in a timely manner.

An important point to be noted is that the USPS treats different mail classes differently, which in turn affects the delivery times. Obviously, First Class mail items are prioritized over Standard mail items. It is why First Class mail is the least affected during the holiday season, and Standard mail is affected the most. Therefore, many mailers choose to send their holiday season mail items through First Class. If you are wondering how long First Class mail takes to deliver during Christmas, note that the specified time is the same as usual.

Standard mail is always processed and sent out for delivery after the USPS workers complete processing First Class mail and Parcels. While sending out First Class mail, you should deposit your holiday mail items by at least December 14. In the case of Standard mail, drop off your mail no later than December 7.

PostGrid can help companies conduct well-planned and strategic direct mail campaigns without having to worry about pulling off everything in time. With the in-built templates, print and mail fulfillment, tracking options, and more such features, it has become quite simple for businesses to print and mail during the holiday season without facing issues like lost mail and delivery delays.