Weekend Delivery 101: How to Ensure Your Package Gets Delivered on a Weekend
Delivering parcels on weekdays has long been the standard. However, since many people are unavailable to receive parcels during standard business hours, weekend delivery has become increasingly popular. Today, most postal and courier companies offer weekend delivery, but the exact terms may vary by carrier.
USPS Weekend Delivery
Saturday is a normal business day for the United States Postal Service (USPS) unless it falls on a federal holiday. Therefore, weekend delivery on Saturdays is standard for all package services, including USPS Ground Advantage, Priority Mail, and Priority Mail Express, at no additional cost.
However, only Priority Mail Express offers guaranteed Saturday delivery. For other services, delivery times may vary depending on the warehouse used for the final delivery, workload, and other factors. Packages not delivered on Saturday will arrive on Monday.
Sunday delivery is reserved for Priority Mail Express packages and certain Amazon packages. Priority Mail Express offers the fastest delivery times of all USPS services, with delivery in 1–3 days (often overnight to major destinations). Sunday and holiday delivery for Priority Mail Express packages is available for an additional fee in select major markets. Therefore, you should check whether Sunday delivery is available for your destination before shipping.
UPS Weekend Delivery
Similar to the USPS, UPS delivers most residential and commercial parcels Monday through Saturday, except on federal holidays. There is no additional fee for Saturday ground delivery of residential packages, but there is a fee for Saturday ground delivery of commercial packages.
Sunday and holiday delivery is available for UPS Express Critical, which is UPS’s fastest service for time-sensitive packages. This service is available 24/7/365 and provides delivery within hours, though it is very expensive.
Previously, some UPS SurePost packages could arrive on Sundays because the USPS was responsible for the final delivery. However, UPS SurePost was recently rebranded as UPS Ground Saver. UPS no longer partners with USPS for this service, so UPS Ground Saver packages are now delivered Monday through Friday (note that there is no Saturday delivery for this packages).
If the recipient can only pick up the package on Sunday, consider shipping it to a pickup location accessible seven days a week. For USPS, these include PO Boxes and gopost lockers. Note that not all PO Boxes are accessible on Sundays, as their accessibility varies by location. To have packages shipped to a PO Box, the recipient must rent one from USPS. To pick up packages from a gopost locker, the recipient must sign up for the service.
For UPS, such a pickup location will be a UPS Access Point. Since UPS Access Point locations are hosted by local businesses, their accessibility varies based on the businesses’ operating hours. Many Access Points at retail locations are open on Sundays, and many UPS Access Point lockers are available 24/7.
Keep in mind that, in order for a package to be ready for pickup on Sunday, it must arrive at the PO Box, gopost locker, or UPS Access Point on Saturday at the latest, so plan accordingly.