For delivery before Christmas 2026, the last recommended days to ship are Thursday 17 December for USPS Ground Advantage in the US, Monday 21 December for Royal Mail 1st Class and Tracked 24 in the UK, and Tuesday 22 December for Australia Post Parcel Post within the same state, with express services in all three countries running to Wednesday 23 December. Those are the carriers’ own 2026 dates, read from their Christmas pages and schedules on 23 October 2026. Below is every service they publish a date for, the carriers that have not published yet, and how to turn a carrier’s last day into the order-by date your store should show.
Christmas 2026 shipping deadlines at a glance
| Country | Standard service | Fastest service |
|---|---|---|
| United States | USPS Ground Advantage (Lower 48): Thu 17 Dec | UPS Next Day Air and FedEx Standard Overnight: Wed 23 Dec; FedEx SameDay: Thu 24 Dec |
| United Kingdom | Royal Mail 2nd Class: Fri 18 Dec | Royal Mail Special Delivery: Wed 23 Dec |
| Australia | Australia Post Parcel Post within a state: Tue 22 Dec; interstate 14–21 Dec | Express Post and StarTrack Premium: Wed 23 Dec |
United States: USPS, UPS and FedEx
USPS dates are its recommended send-by days for delivery before 25 December to the contiguous US, the Lower 48 states. UPS and FedEx publish theirs for arrival by Thursday 24 December, and UPS calls its list recommended last days to ship.
| Carrier and service | Last day to ship | For delivery |
|---|---|---|
| USPS Ground Advantage | Thu 17 Dec | before 25 Dec |
| USPS First-Class Mail | Thu 17 Dec | before 25 Dec |
| USPS Priority Mail | Fri 18 Dec | before 25 Dec |
| USPS Priority Mail Express | Sat 19 Dec | before 25 Dec |
| FedEx Ground Economy | Tue 15 Dec | by 24 Dec |
| FedEx Ground and Home Delivery | Thu 17 Dec (5-day transit) to Wed 23 Dec (1-day transit) | by 24 Dec |
| UPS 3 Day Select | Mon 21 Dec | by 24 Dec |
| FedEx Express Saver | Mon 21 Dec | by 24 Dec |
| UPS 2nd Day Air | Tue 22 Dec | by 24 Dec |
| FedEx 2Day | Tue 22 Dec | by 24 Dec |
| UPS Next Day Air | Wed 23 Dec | by 24 Dec |
| FedEx Standard Overnight (also First and Priority Overnight) | Wed 23 Dec | by 24 Dec |
| FedEx SameDay | Thu 24 Dec | by 24 Dec |
UPS Ground has no single date. It depends on the distance between the two addresses, so UPS sends shippers to its time-in-transit calculator. FedEx Ground and Home Delivery work the same way, but FedEx prints the answer: Thursday 17 December where the transit takes five business days, down to Wednesday 23 December where it takes one.
Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and US territories
USPS gives the same dates as the Lower 48 for First-Class Mail (Thu 17 Dec), Priority Mail (Fri 18 Dec) and Priority Mail Express (Sat 19 Dec). It gives no single date for Ground Advantage to these addresses, only a service expectation of ten days or more, so a store shipping Ground Advantage there should close that rate in early December or point customers to Priority Mail.
Military mail: APO, FPO and DPO
Military addresses close far earlier than anything domestic. Ground Advantage to APO, FPO and DPO addresses closes on Wednesday 4 November, First-Class Mail and Priority Mail on Wednesday 9 December, and Priority Mail Express Military Service on Wednesday 16 December, which USPS does not offer to the AE ZIP 093.
From the US to the UK and Australia
USPS shows the same dates for every international region it lists, the UK and Australia included: Wednesday 9 December for First-Class Package International Service and Priority Mail International, and Wednesday 16 December for Priority Mail Express International. UPS and FedEx do not publish fixed international Christmas dates; both send shippers to their transit-time tools.
United Kingdom: Royal Mail, Parcelforce, Evri and DPD
Royal Mail published one set of 2026 dates for the whole of the UK, with no separate dates for Northern Ireland or the Highlands and Islands, and it lists Parcelforce’s dates alongside its own.
| Carrier and service | Last posting day |
|---|---|
| Royal Mail 2nd Class and 2nd Class Signed For | Fri 18 Dec |
| Royal Mail Tracked 48 | Sat 19 Dec |
| Royal Mail 1st Class and 1st Class Signed For | Mon 21 Dec |
| Royal Mail Tracked 24 | Mon 21 Dec |
| Parcelforce express48 | Mon 21 Dec |
| Parcelforce express24, express10 and expressAM | Tue 22 Dec |
| Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed | Wed 23 Dec |
- Returns. A Tracked Returns 48 parcel has to be posted by Saturday 19 December to reach the sender before Christmas, which matters if your returns policy promises a swap in time for the day.
- Forces mail (BFPO). Static bases closed first, on Saturday 24 October; operational addresses and HM Ships close on Tuesday 17 November.
- Evri. No 2026 dates yet. Its most recent Christmas post on 23 October 2026 was still the 2025 one.
- DPD. No last delivery dates yet. Its 2026 schedule so far lists only the days it is closed: Friday 25, Saturday 26 and Monday 28 December.
- From the UK to the US or Australia. Neither Royal Mail nor Parcelforce has published fixed international Christmas dates for 2026; both point to their per-country delivery aims instead.
Australia: Australia Post and StarTrack
Australia Post’s dates are for parcels sent from one metro area to another and lodged over the counter by 2.30pm; Geelong, the Gold Coast and Newcastle count as metro. Outside those areas it asks senders to allow extra time. Within the same state, Parcel Post closes on Tuesday 22 December. Interstate, the date depends on the route:
- From NSW: within NSW Tue 22 Dec; to the ACT, Victoria, Queensland, SA and Tasmania Mon 21 Dec; to WA Fri 18 Dec; to the NT Wed 16 Dec.
- From the ACT: within the ACT Tue 22 Dec; to NSW, Victoria, Queensland, SA and Tasmania Mon 21 Dec; to WA Fri 18 Dec; to the NT Wed 16 Dec.
- From Victoria: within Victoria Tue 22 Dec; to NSW, the ACT, Queensland, SA and Tasmania Mon 21 Dec; to WA Fri 18 Dec; to the NT Wed 16 Dec.
- From Queensland: within Queensland Tue 22 Dec; to NSW, the ACT, Victoria and SA Mon 21 Dec; to Tasmania Fri 18 Dec; to WA Thu 17 Dec; to the NT Mon 14 Dec.
- From SA: within SA Tue 22 Dec; to NSW, the ACT, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania Mon 21 Dec; to WA Fri 18 Dec; to the NT Thu 17 Dec.
- From WA: within WA Tue 22 Dec; to NSW, the ACT, Victoria and SA Fri 18 Dec; to Queensland Thu 17 Dec; to Tasmania Wed 16 Dec; to the NT Mon 14 Dec.
- From Tasmania: within Tasmania Tue 22 Dec; to NSW, the ACT, Victoria and SA Mon 21 Dec; to Queensland Fri 18 Dec; to WA Wed 16 Dec; to the NT Mon 14 Dec.
- From the NT: within the NT Tue 22 Dec; to Queensland, SA and WA Thu 17 Dec; to NSW, the ACT and Victoria Wed 16 Dec; to Tasmania Mon 14 Dec.
The tightest routes run to and from the Northern Territory and Western Australia: Queensland, Tasmania or Western Australia to the Northern Territory closes on Monday 14 December, a week before most east-coast routes.
- Express Post closes on Wednesday 23 December, or Tuesday 22 December for parcels to or from Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
- Cards and letters by regular post close on Monday 21 December within the same state and Friday 18 December interstate.
- StarTrack Premium closes on Wednesday 23 December between capital cities. StarTrack Road Express lodgement dates run from Mon 14 Dec to Wed 23 Dec depending on the route, and the service runs up to and including 24 December.
- Sendle stopped taking bookings on 11 January 2026, so there are no Sendle Christmas dates this year. If your store’s shipping still lists it, replace the rate before December.
From Australia to the US and the UK
| Australia Post service | To the USA | To the UK |
|---|---|---|
| International Courier | Tue 15 Dec | Tue 15 Dec |
| International Express | Fri 11 Dec | Tue 15 Dec |
| International Standard | Mon 7 Dec | Fri 11 Dec |
| International Economy Air | Mon 30 Nov | Fri 4 Dec |
These are metro-to-metro dates too. Australia Post adds two business days for items sent from South Australia, Tasmania or the Northern Territory.
Turning a carrier’s last day into your order-by date
A carrier’s last day is the day the parcel has to be with the carrier, not the day the customer has to order. For each shipping rate you offer, take the carrier’s date and count back by your own handling time in working days: the time between an order arriving and the parcel being collected or dropped off.
- USPS Ground Advantage closes on Thursday 17 December. A store that ships the next working day should stop promising Christmas delivery on that rate at the end of Wednesday 16 December; a store that needs two working days, at the end of Tuesday 15 December.
- Royal Mail Tracked 48 closes on a Saturday, 19 December. If nothing leaves your warehouse at weekends, your real last Tracked 48 dispatch is Friday 18 December, the same day as 2nd Class.
- Australia Post Parcel Post from Victoria to Western Australia closes on Friday 18 December, four days before Victoria to Victoria. One national order-by date has to follow the earliest route you ship to, or you show the date by state.
What to change on your Shopify store before December
- Put the order-by dates where people decide. The announcement bar, the product page near the Add to cart button, and the cart, with one date per shipping rate. Repeat them on your shipping policy page and in your FAQ so support can send one link.
- Name your shipping rates with the promise. For rates you set yourself in Shopify’s shipping settings, the rate name is what the customer reads at checkout, so “Standard: order by 16 December for Christmas” does more work than “Standard”. Rename the rate again the day the promise expires.
- Change the offer once the slow rates close. After the last standard date, lead with express shipping, local pickup or local delivery (both are built into Shopify for stores with a location) and digital gift cards, which Shopify delivers by email and which arrive in time whatever the date.
- Check the dates again in mid-November. Evri and DPD have not published theirs, and carriers do revise. We will update this page when they publish.
For the sales dates themselves, from Black Friday to the Australian end of financial year, see our ecommerce holiday calendar for 2026–27. Apps that show a delivery date on the product page are compared in our guide to Shopify shipping and delivery apps. And if you want the rest of peak season checked with the same care, from page speed to checkout and tracking, our BFCM 2026 readiness audit lists the twelve checks we run on a store before Black Friday.
Sources and how we checked
Every date above was read from the carrier’s own 2026 page or schedule on 23 October 2026, and every weekday was checked against the 2026 calendar. Where a third-party guide disagreed with the carrier, we used the carrier: several guides list UPS 3 Day Select as Saturday 19 December, while UPS’s own 2026 schedule says Monday 21 December.
- USPS: holiday shipping dates
- UPS: 2026 year-end holiday schedule
- FedEx: last days to ship
- Royal Mail and Parcelforce: Christmas last posting dates
- DPD: delivery schedule; Evri: news page
- Australia Post: Christmas sending dates; StarTrack: Christmas lodgement dates
- Sendle: Power Retail report
