U.S. Postal Service adds Sunday delivery for holidays

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The U.S. Postal Service will deliver packages on Sundays in major cities and high volume areas during the holiday season.

Seven-day delivery will run from Nov. 17 through Christmas Day in response to anticipated growing demands.

The agency expects a 12 percent growth in its package business this holiday season, or in the range of about 450 to 470 million packages.

The Postal Service says demand for package services has grown as online retailers ship more products to their customers.

The struggling agency lost $2 billion this spring despite increasing its volume and charging consumers more money to send mail.

The Postal Service is an independent agency that receives no tax dollars for day-to-day operations but is subject to congressional control.

The Postal Service says this service will only be done December 13 and 20 to accommodate the holiday rush. Customers should put their mail in the collection mailboxes before 3 p.m. on those days.

The holiday deadlines for mail to reach its destination by Christmas through the USPS is:

  • Dec. 15 - Standard Post
  • Dec. 19 - First Class Mail   
  • Dec. 19 - Global Express Guaranteed
  • Dec. 21 - Priority Mail
  • Dec. 23 - Priority Mail Express

For more details: usps.com/holidaynews

Here are the deadlines for UPS:

  • Dec. 18: Last day to ship UPS 3 DAY SELECT
  • Dec. 21: Last day for UPS 2nd Day Air 
  • Dec. 22: Last day to ship all UPS Next Day Air packages for Christmas Eve delivery

More details: https://www.ups.com/media/news/en/UPS_PeakSeason.pdf

Here are the deadlines for FedEx:

  • Dec. 17 last day to ship via FedEx Ground to guarantee delivery by Christmas
  • Dec. 22: FedEx 2day
  • Dec. 23: FedEx overnight standard & priority

More details: http://www.fedex.com/us/holiday/last-days-to-ship.html

The Associated Press contributed to this report.