Shipping for the holidays

The United States Post Office has been working hard these past couple of days. They won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

“Everyday gets a little bit more and more,” Jim Alvord, Idaho Falls Eagle Rock United States Postal Service station manager, said. “And today we were quite busy sending packages out.”

The USPS expects to deliver around 850,000,000 packages between Thanksgiving and New Years day. With just 9 days left until the big day, it seems like almost everyone is getting those last minute packages out.

“Express mail their last day is going to be Friday, Alvord said. “And if they pay the extra for holiday shipping Sunday delivery then they can get it delivered on Sunday.”

A couple of other key dates to remember if you plan on going through the US Postal service for shipping. December 19th is the last day for first class mail and December 20th is the last day for priority mail.

They are also offering an additional service this holiday season.

“We’ve been delivering packages the last couple of Sundays,” Alvord said. “And we’ll continue delivering them up until Christmas Eve.”

And if you’re someone that is an online shopper, it’s not too late to get those orders in. Online stores like Amazon and Toys “R” Us say that if you get your orders in by December 18th you can use standard shipping and get those gifts under the tree by Christmas. Retailers like JC Penny and Best Buy say the same thing, but by the 20th.

But there’s one key date you might want to still keep in mind for online shopping

Today! It’s National Free Shipping day.

Almost 1,000 online stores participate in this event and guarantee it’ll be delivered by the big holiday. So if you’re someone who still has some shopping to do. Make sure you take advantage of this deal, like, now.