So is there a USPS Thanksgiving Delivery? The United States Postal Service (USPS) plays a crucial role during the Thanksgiving season by ensuring the timely delivery of mail and packages. As people across the country prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday, the USPS experiences increased demand for its services due to the sending of greeting cards, gifts, and other items.
The postal service works diligently to handle the surge in mail volume, implementing operational strategies to manage the influx and meet delivery deadlines. USPS employees, including postal workers and support staff, play a vital role in making sure that Thanksgiving-related mail and packages reach their destinations promptly, contributing to the smooth functioning of holiday celebrations.
However, there are certain days when these postal employees are on leave, for instance, on Thanksgiving Day or certain federal holidays. Therefore there may be some disruption to the normal delivery service. I’m sure that you are now asking yourself the question ‘How does this affect me?’.
There have been multiple companies like the United States Postal Service, UPS (United Parcel Service), and FedEx that provide similar mail services that ensure easy and quick delivery of mail from the sender to the receiver.
Holiday periods are a time when people often give gifts and so want to ensure that their packages will be delivered on time. One such holiday period is Thanksgiving so people are curious about USPS Thanksgiving Delivery. A lot of people will have little to no idea as to whether Thanksgiving is considered a federal holiday or not. So, there is a range of questions that spring up such as whether mails run on federal holidays, whether mail is delivered, or does the post office is open on Thanksgiving, and so on.
So If you want to know more about post office holidays then we have published a detailed guide here.
Well, it is important to know the answer to these basic questions. So, here are the answers.
Table of Contents
USPS Thanksgiving Delivery. Is Thanksgiving a Federal Holiday?
The answer to this question is yes. Thanksgiving is a federal holiday wherein almost all government offices such as libraries, schools, banks, and all the other public services including federal offices and postal services remain closed.
There may be certain other offices that might function on a limited basis according to fixed timing and schedule on Thanksgiving and other national holidays however the Post Office isn’t one of them.
USPS Thanksgiving Delivery. Does it Deliver or NOT?
Now comes the major question regarding USPS Thanksgiving Delivery. Well, the answer is no. USPS does not deliver on Thanksgiving Day.
All postal offices, and their departments, will remain closed on Thanksgiving Day. As a result, no delivery of standard mail and packages will take place on this federal holiday. The exception to this rule is the process of delivering the Priority Mail Express service.
It is reassuring to know that all packages that are sent through the Priority Mail Express service run all around the year, that is, the packages and mail that go through this service will be sent and delivered 365 days a year.
Are the USPS post offices, open and running on Thanksgiving? Again the answer is no. The postal offices remain closed for all pick-up and delivery purposes.
While there might be a certain limited level of USPS elements functioning internally on federal holidays, these do not affect the opening of Post Offices which remain closed.
The work done behind the scenes by USPS postal workers during Thanksgiving supports the delivery of the packages that are sent by the Priority Mail Express service. It ensures that there is sorting of the mail and that these mail items are moved from one facility to another. This in short means that even though the United States Postal Service runs in the background on Thanksgiving and other federal holidays, the customers would have no access whatsoever to USPS retail services and facilities during this period.
USPS Thanksgiving Delivery and Black Friday?
A huge amount of sales are made on Black Friday. One of the most anticipated online retail days of the year. As Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving many people also ask whether this affected deliveries and in particular whether USPS works on this day.
Even though Black Friday is a state holiday in more than half of the states in the United States, it is not a public holiday. That said Black Friday is a day of paid leave for almost 80% of employees.
So are the Post Offices on Black Friday? As is not a federal holiday, all of the post offices will be open, and the mail services will normally run on the day following Thanksgiving Day.
Read more on Is The Post Office Open on Black Friday?
USPS Thanksgiving Delivery – Are there Alternatives Running on This Day?
As we now know USPS does not operate on Thanksgiving it is reasonable to ask whether there are alternatives such as UPS and FedEx that might be working during this time. As this is a Federal Holiday the simple answer is no. Neither UPS nor FedEx work on Thanksgiving Day.
However, UPS Express Critical services and FedEx’s same-day package service, which are similar to the Priority Mail Express service of the USPS, deliver even on Thanksgiving Day.
Conclusion: USPS Thanksgiving Delivery
In this article, we have discussed everything that you need to know regarding USPS Thanksgiving Delivery. We hope we have answered all your queries and doubts regarding the working status of the USPS on Thanksgiving Day.
The USPS website provides a locator tool that allows you to find the hours and services available at your local post office as well as USPS Thanksgiving Delivery. Additionally, you may want to contact your local post office directly or check any announcements or notices they may have regarding holiday hours.
You may be interested in finding out more about the holiday schedule and how this affects the delivery of mail and packages by USPS. We have an in-depth article on holidays here.