TEXAS \u2014 Tis\u2019 the season to get your holiday shipping done, and if those gifts are heading to the post office, the deadlines to get packages in by Christmas are coming up fast.<\/p>\n
For Christmas delivery with the U.S. Postal Service:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dec. 17: Ground Advantage, First-Class Mail\u00a0
\nDec. 18: Priority Mail
\nDec. 20: Priority Mail Express<\/p>\n
Shipments to Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico have varied deadlines too, but priority mail is due Thursday.<\/p>\n
For Christmas delivery with FedEx:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dec. 17: Ground and Home Delivery (delivery takes one to five days)\u00a0
\nDec. 20: Express Saver (three days)
\nDec. 22: 2Day and 2Day A.M.
\nDec. 23: First Class, Priority or Standard Overnight
\nDec. 24: Same Day (schedule in advance)<\/p>\n
\u00a0For Christmas delivery with UPS:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dec. 19: 3 Day Select
\nDec. 22: 2nd Day Air
\nDec. 23: Next Day Air<\/p>\n
Ground shipping deadlines vary by location, so check with the local store, but generally speaking, Dec. 17 and Dec. 18 are good days to ship on to get gifts delivered by Christmas Day.<\/p>\n
This year, the Postal Service said it is expecting 35% more packages and mail for Christmas than last year.<\/p>\n
The Postal Service said it has opened 200 new processing facilities this year, including in Dallas, to help with the extra volume. It also hired an additional 14,000 seasonal employees nationwide.<\/p>\n
Spectrum News spoke with a few Postal Service customers this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Richard was shipping his Christmas gifts to West Virginia this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor my grandkids out there,\u201d said Richard. \u201cThey don\u2019t live around the corner, so we got it out. We got the last gift in overnight, so we got the package out this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tabitha also normally ships gifts to other states through the Postal Service.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want them to be able to open their presents wrapped,\u201d said Tabitha. \u201cYou know, Amazon will wrap it for you, but it\u2019s not really pretty or cute and other places don\u2019t offer that, so I like to ship it to me and then wrap it and them to be able to get it under their Christmas tree on time, so it feels like we\u2019re there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Postal Service approved a fee change in August for a few services for the holiday season.<\/p>\n
They are Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, Ground Advantage and Parcel Select.\u00a0<\/p>\n