Christmas Day is two weeks from today, so the rush is on to shop for and ship out all of the things Santa Claus cannot fit into his sleigh.
This is crunch time for FedEx, UPS and the United States Postal Service to sort and send hundreds of millions of packages over the next several days.
At a sorting facility just east of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, dozens of FedEx employees are up long before the sun every day taking in packages that arrive on trucks and airplanes from outside of our area.
A series of conveyor belts run the packages off the back of trucks, down through a sophisticated sorting system and back onto local delivery trucks.
Here are the recommended deadlines for shipping within the continental U.S.:
- Retail Ground - Dec 14 (Thursday)
- First-Class Mail service – Dec. 19
- Priority Mail – Dec. 20
- Priority Mail Express – Dec. 22 (For shipments mailed the 22nd -25th, money-back guarantee only applies if the shipment wasn’t delivered within 2 business days – so this may not guarantee Christmas delivery)
- Ground – Dec 15 (Friday) (No Saturday delivery option)
- 2 Day – Dec 20 (Can include Saturday delivery for a $16 charge)
- Overnight – Dec. 21 (Can include Saturday delivery for a $16 charge)
- 3 Day Select – Dec. 18 (Delivered Dec. 22)
- 2nd Day Air (Normal) – Dec. 20 (Delivered Dec. 22)
- 2nd Day Air (Saturday Delivery) – Dec. 21 (Not available in all zips)
- Next Day Air (Saturday Delivery) – Dec. 22 (Not available in all zips)
