When does ups stop delivering?

This post will give you an overview of delivery times for FedEx, UPS, and USPS. It covers the most popular service offerings for each carrier. Once you know general delivery times, you can better choose the right carrier for your order fulfillment.

Keep in mind that delivery times can be affected by external factors. These can include extreme weather, labor actions, or, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic. Check the carrier’s website or call your local sales rep for the updates.

FedEx offers a wide range of services with an equally wide range of delivery times. Delivery times will depend on whether you’re shipping overnight or ground. Shipments to residential addresses may have different delivery times than packages going to another business.

Generally, FedEx Ground delivers by the end of business, Monday through Friday. However, FedEx Home Delivery, which is a FedEx Ground service, can drop off packages as late at 8 pm.

In most cases, FedEx Home Delivery doesn’t deliver at a specific time. However, Evening Home Delivery packages arrive at their destinations between 5 pm and 8 pm.

FedEx Date Certain Home Delivery promises your package will arrive on a specific day. Delivery times are Monday through Saturday, between 9 am and 8 pm. With FedEx Appointment Home Delivery, you can schedule a drop off window between the hours of 9 am and 8 pm.

For overnight shipments, FedEx offers three service levels with different delivery times. First Overnight delivers before 9:30 am to most ZIP codes. Priority Overnight delivers before 10:30 am. Standard Overnight gets packages to their destination no later than 3 pm in most areas. These delivery times are on weekdays only. So, a package or envelope shipped by Standard Overnight on a Friday will arrive by 3 pm the following Monday.

FedEx Evening Home Delivery is an option with FedEx Ground service. This service delivers between 5 pm and 8 pm, Monday through Saturday.

FedEx Ground delivers by the end of the business day but doesn’t specify what time that is. You can assume it’s around 5 pm, which is when most offices close their doors. For FedEx Home Delivery, however, end of day is 8 pm local time.

If you’re shipping packages, your cutoff for shipping out that day will vary by where you’re shipping. FedEx shipping locations may have a cutoff as late as 7 pm for Zone 1 packages. Expect an earlier cutoff for parcels shipped farther. Check with your local FedEx office for shipping cutoff times.

Generally, FedEx Ground delivers in one to seven business days. Delivery times in the contiguous United States are one to five days. In Alaska and Hawaii, packages will arrive in three to seven days.

FedEx Express Freight delivers in one to three business days to most US locations.

FedEx overnight services deliver the next business day. Saturday deliveries are available in some locations.

FedEx Ground delivers Monday through Friday only. However, the residential service, FedEx Home Delivery, includes weekend delivery times with no surcharge. Saturday delivery for overnight envelopes and packages, where available, will cost you extra.

FedEx Home Delivery will drop off packages on Sundays at no extra cost. However, this service is only available in certain areas. Check the map for Sunday delivery areas.

Generally, FedEx Ground services deliver on most US holidays with their regular schedule. The two exceptions are Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. All but critical carrier services are closed on those days.

Freight, overnight, and SmartPost services generally have modified schedules on holidays. Check the FedEx holiday schedule for more information.

The United Parcel Service is the largest package carrier in the world. Established in 1907, the brown trucks deliver more packages than FedEx (est. 1971). UPS doesn’t have as many different service levels as FedEx. Still, it offers almost as wide a range of delivery times.

A UPS Ground package will generally be delivered between 9 am and 7 pm to residential addresses, Monday through Friday. Residential orders will sometimes arrive later than 7 pm. Shipments to business addresses will arrive during business hours. UPS doesn’t offer a service where you can schedule a package to arrive at a specific time during the day.

UPS offers two overnight services. Next Day Air Early arrives no later than 10:30 am. UPS generally delivers its regular Next Day Air packages by 3 pm. UPS has currently extended delivery times for its next-day and second-day air services to the end of the business day due to the coronavirus.

Regular delivery hours for UPS end at 7 pm for residential addresses. The delivery cutoff is the end of the business day for deliveries to business addresses. However, UPS drivers will continue to make deliveries after 7 pm, so some packages may arrive later.

UPS delivers to commercial and business addresses before the close of the business day for those businesses. UPS doesn’t specify a particular time for the end of the business day, but you can assume it’s around 5 pm. For home deliveries by UPS Ground, end of day is 9 pm. UPS may even make deliveries later than 9 pm, Monday through Friday.

Most UPS Ground packages shipped within the 48 contiguous US states will arrive in between one and five days. If you’re shipping from one of the “corners” of the country (such as Miami),  UPS delivery times can be longer. It may take as long as six or seven days to deliver to more distant or remote locations. Deliveries to Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico take at least three days and may take up to seven days.

To find out your UPS delivery zones, use this handy map of UPS Ground delivery times.

UPS delivers on Saturdays to business and residential addresses. UPS will also pick up packages for delivery on Saturdays. ECommerce businesses can add Saturday Ground pickup to their pickup schedule to keep the orders flowing. Saturday pickup is not available in Hawaii or Alaska.

UPS Saturday delivery times are not available to all addresses. Saturday service is limited to 100 metro areas in the US.

UPS has limited Sunday delivery times. The carrier offers Sunday delivery for economy packages by teaming up with USPS. Sunday delivery is not available in all locations.

UPS Ground, Freight, and Air services, plus UPS Store locations, are closed on these US holidays:

Check out the UPS Holiday Operations Schedule for a full list of holiday closures.

The United States Postal Service has been around as long as the United States itself. It is the only carrier that delivers to absolutely every US address, no matter how remote. USPS also offers some services with short delivery times.

Delivery times for packages sent by regular USPS services vary. When mail arrives during the day depends on where an address is on the postal route. Some homes and businesses might regularly get USPS mail in the morning. Others may get their mail in the afternoon.

USPS Priority Mail Express, the USPS expedited service, guarantees your package will arrive by 3 pm.

Postal carriers are supposed to finish their routes by 6 pm. However, they generally stay on the job until they have finished their route. In busy times of the year, that can mean working into the evening hours. A USPS Inspector General report in 2017 found that some US mail was delivered as late as 10 pm.

For your hardworking postal delivery person, end of day is most likely whenever all the mail is delivered. Sometimes, this can be as late as 10 pm.

When you’re shipping via USPS and need a package postmarked today, end of day is, literally, midnight. Your local post office closes much earlier than that. However, if you are close to a USPS distribution center, you may be able to drop off a package and get it postmarked as late as midnight.

USPS guarantees Priority Mail will arrive in one to three days. However, USPS has extended this to up to four days during the pandemic. First-Class Package Service generally arrives in between one and three days, but it could also take up to four days right now. Priority Mail Express delivers in one to two days. Express delivery times have not been affected by the coronavirus.

USPS offers two economical but slower services. USPS Retail Ground and Media Mail have delivery times of around two to eight days.

USPS offers Saturday delivery standard with all its services.

USPS will deliver Priority Mail Express packages on Sunday for an additional charge. Also, to cope with high volume around the holidays, USPS will add Sunday delivery in some metro areas. USPS also has a partnership with Amazon where it delivers packages on Sundays.

There is no extra charge if USPS delivers a non-Express package on Sunday. However, you can’t schedule Sunday delivery. If your package gets delivered on a Sunday, consider yourself lucky.

USPS observes 10 legal holidays and doesn’t deliver mail on those days. In addition to the holidays listed above, USPS is closed on these holidays:

All USPS services are closed on holidays.

Waiting for your UPS package to be delivered? Nobody wants to sit around waiting for their parcel to arrive, especially if you have things to be getting on with. If you've been waiting eagerly at home for a package to be delivered, then you may be wondering how late does UPS deliver? In this article, we'll look at the latest delivery time for UPS packages so you'll know when you can start winding down for the evening.

UPS deliveries are usually made between 9 am-7 pm. Saying that, the official delivery window for UPS is 7 am-9 pm so if your package turns up as you're cozying up to watch a film for the evening then that will be why. While most drivers will be heading back to base towards the end of the day, if there are a lot of packages to be delivered then your parcel may arrive a little later than expected.

However, even though the official delivery window closes at 9 pm,  UPS generally delivers packages much earlier. UPS will usually deliver packages between 9 am-7 pm for residential addresses. There are times when you could be waiting up until 9 pm because a lot of UPS drivers tend to work overtime.

One of the great things about using UPS as your courier of choice is that their estimated delivery times tend to be pretty spot on.

There's nothing worse than being given an estimated delivery time, and keeping your whole day free so you can stay in and wait for your package to arrive, only for it not to. This is why even though some couriers may offer lower shipping costs, they may be more unreliable than others. You should always choose a trusted courier such as UPS so you can ensure that you get your packages on time and no one is left disappointed - especially if you are shipping a lot of orders over the holiday season.

As with every courier service, there are factors that can affect delivery times which include:

If your UPS package hasn't arrived on time then it's important to find your tracking number so you can track your parcel to see if it's been updated. It may be that the parcel couldn't have been delivered due to unforeseen circumstances or there has been a delay somewhere along the line.

The best thing to do is keep calm, check for updates and remain patient.

Remember, during the holiday season there are a lot more orders than usual so if it is getting late and you find yourself wondering "how late does UPS deliver?" then your package may turn up just past the closing window. It's likely that over the holidays, delivery drivers are overworked and struggling to fit every delivery in. If your package does arrive slightly outside the delivery window, at least it turned up, right? Delivery drivers are usually meant to be finished for the day by 7 pm but if their deliveries haven't all been made then some drivers will work later in order to keep up-to-date.

The American customer satisfaction index (ASCI) score for UPS in 2022 is 74 (out of 100) which is generally quite a good score. For comparison, USPS's score sits just below 70.

Different logistics carriers offer different services and delivery times. Many services offer standard delivery times plus expedited shipping options.

Of course, the faster you want a delivery completed, the more it will generally cost.

Here’s a quick overview of how late FedEx, USPS, UPS, and DHL deliver. We’ll also give you the details on whether they deliver on weekends and holidays, so you have all the must-have info in one easy overview.

FedEx generally makes deliveries from 8 am to 8 pm, Monday to Friday, with residential deliveries also made on Saturdays and Sundays. When FedEx sends a shipping notification saying that a package will arrive by the end of the day, it should arrive by 8 pm on that day.

FedEx delivers on some holidays. The company has an annual holiday service schedule that you can consult to check availability. For example, in 2022, FedEx Custom Critical is open on Thanksgiving Day, but FedEx Ground is closed on that day.

You can track FedEx packages to see when they’ll arrive using the order number provided when the package was shipped. (Being able to track orders helps avoid delivery exceptions.) Check out the company’s online tracking portal.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) generally delivers mail from 8 am to 5 pm, Monday to Saturday. Sunday delivery is usually only available if you’ve paid for the Priority Mail Express package.

USPS offers service on some holidays. The company posts a schedule of holidays on its website. If a holiday falls on a Saturday, for most USPS employees, the previous Friday is treated as a holiday.

If the holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is treated as a holiday, meaning mail carriers may have the day off and not make deliveries on these days.

That said, you can get exceptions for specialty services, which USPS also posts online. For example, Christmas Day, December 25, is a postal holiday, meaning all post office locations are closed.

You can’t get regular mail on Christmas day, either. However, you can get Priority Mail Express.

Not all USPS packages can be tracked. However, if your package has a tracking number, you can check online to see when it will be delivered.

Check the USPS online tracking portal.

The standard United Parcel Service (UPS) residential delivery hours are 9 am to 7 pm For business addresses, delivery stop time is close of business.

UPS schedules residential and commercial deliveries Monday through Saturday. However, Sunday delivery is only available for residential addresses.

Like the other mail carriers on this list, UPS posts a holiday schedule so that you can check for potential delivery interruptions. Here’s the 2022 schedule.

Again, delivery availability depends on the type of service you choose. For example, UPS Domestic Ground, Air and International services are closed on New Year’s Day and Easter.

However, UPS Express Critical Services are open these days.

You can check when UPS packages will be delivered using the company’s online tracking tool. Simply enter the reference or tracking number to know where in the supply chain your package is. Then you can keep customers up-to-date.

Standard delivery hours for DHL in the United States are 8 am to 6 pm Monday through Friday. DHL delivery isn’t offered on the weekends in the US

However, you can get weekend delivery in other regions, including parts of Europe and Asia (usually at an extra cost).

DHL’s holiday operations depend on your customer’s locality. Local public holidays dictate the schedule in each region.

For example, in the Netherlands, DHL is closed on King’s Day. In the United States, standard local holidays like New Year’s Day and the Fourth of July may interrupt service.

DHL offers a track-and-trace online service. You can use it to know when a package is expected to arrive, so you and your customers are up to date on precise delivery time windows.

Most logistics services don’t offer nighttime service for a few reasons.

First, the odds are that businesses are empty at night, so there’s nobody to receive business packages. For residences, people might be sleeping, making nighttime delivery impractical.

This is especially impractical in instances that require proof of delivery. For example, if a delivery driver needs a package recipient’s signature when dropping off a package, and they can’t reach them because they’re asleep, they won’t be able to drop the package off and may have to return later.

According to the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General, nighttime delivery poses security risks. For example, there’s a bigger chance of a package being stolen from a front porch.

That’s why most package deliveries are scheduled in the daytime.

Night-time deliveries can also be riskier to drivers. The likelihood of tripping is greater in the dark, and driving becomes more dangerous due to compromised vision.

On top of that, crime rates rise at night, especially violent crime rates — putting drivers at greater risk of assault, robbery,  and other acts.

But what if you urgently need a package delivered, even if it’s nighttime?

For last-mile delivery, it might be possible.

Some specialty courier services like Rapidus specialize in 24/7 service. They might cater to lawyer’s offices working under deadlines, for example, delivering documents or flash drives at all hours.

Late-night food delivery services are another exception.

Depending on the delivery area and restaurant availability, providers like GrubHub may help fulfill late-night orders. Craving a burrito or taco — or chicken wings and a slice from your favorite pizza place — at 3 am?

UPS deliveries are usually made between 9 am-7 pm. Saying that, the official delivery window for UPS is 7 am-9 pm so if your package turns up as you're cozying up to watch a film for the evening then that will be why.