While the holiday season is still over six weeks away, the United States Postal Service has just released its holiday shipping deadlines for Minnesota.

With Thanksgiving being so late this year, falling on Thursday, November 28th, 2024, the holiday season between then and Christmas is nearly a week shorter. In fact, industry site, Modern Retail says that there are only 27 shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, 5 entire days shorter than in 2023.

Many of us here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes will do some of our holiday shopping online again this year. Online shopping exploded three years ago during the pandemic but has also been very much a thing the past few years. Last year, this story on holiday shopping trends from marketing firm Tinuiti, noted that 75 percent of us here in the Bold North will do at least *some* of our holiday shopping online (likely from our phones) this year.

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That translates into big business. Minnesotans and others across the U.S. are expected to spend $240.8 billion online in November and December, according to Adobe Analytics, Modern Retail said. That’s 8.4 percent higher than last year’s holiday shopping season and the biggest increase since 2021.

And once you get those packages delivered, you might need to ship them AGAIN to your recipients, if you have friends and family who live out of town. So with that in mind, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has just released its deadlines for the 2024 holiday shopping season.

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The following are recommended send-by dates for expected delivery in Minnesota before December 25th, USPS said:

2024 Holiday Mailing and Shipping Dates for Items Sent to Addresses in the Contiguous United States (Lower 48 States):

USPS Ground Advantage service: Dec. 18
First-Class Mail service: Dec. 18
Priority Mail service: Dec. 19
Priority Mail Express service: Dec. 21

2024 Holiday Mailing and Shipping Dates for Items Sent to Addresses in Alaska and Hawaii:

USPS Ground Advantage service: Dec. 16
First-Class Mail service: Dec. 18
Priority Mail service: Dec. 19
Priority Mail Express service: Dec. 20

Of course, the USPS also said it urges customers to plan ahead and ship early during this holiday season. The earlier you send, the better, they said. For tips on preparing shipments, including packaging guidelines, ordering free shipping supplies and information on local Post Office location hours, check out usps.com.

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Gallery Credit: Rob Carroll

 

 

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