Deadlines are nearing for those wanting to ship Christmas gifts

Deadlines for shipping holiday gifts

If you want to get your package to a destination by Dec. 25, here’s a list of the deadlines. And remember, the closer you get to Christmas, the more you have to pay to get your package there on time.

U.S. Postal Service:

Dec. 4 – Military mail for Iraq or Afghanistan

Dec. 15 – Parcel Post

Dec. 20 – First Class Mail

Dec. 21 – Priority Mail

Dec. 22 – Express Mail

UPS:

Dec. 21 – UPS 3 Day Select

Dec. 22 – UPS 2nd Day Air

Dec. 23 – UPS Next Day Air

Packing tips from the pros

• Use packing peanuts or bubble wrap to protect fragile items. Tissue paper, newspaper and the small bubble wrap aren’t good packing options, said Steve Figuieras, operations manager at the UPS at 3514 Clinton Parkway. In the case of packing peanuts, use so many that you can barely close the box and then secure it with packing tape.

• The earlier you can ship in the day and the week the better.

• Make sure the zip code is correct. No zip code is better than a wrong one, said Rich Watkins with the U.S. Postal Service.

• Place an extra label and return address on the inside of the package, just in case something happens to it during shipping.

• While brown paper packages tied up with string makes for a nice lyric, Watkins said they can be a major headache for the postal service. Avoid wrapping packages.

• For those sending books, films, CDs, DVDs or magazines, see if you can go with the discounted media rate through the postal service.

Santa Claus might be the only one with the luxury of delivering presents at the last minute. For the rest of us, the longer we wait, the more expensive the rate.

The Christmas Day mailing deadline for those who are thrifty is Dec. 15. That is the last day you can send a package by the U.S. Postal Service’s parcel post, which is the cheapest way to get a package from here to there.

For UPS, the more affordable rates can be found from the week of Dec. 13 to Dec. 17, when packages can still be shipped through basic ground delivery, said Steve Figuieras, operations manager for the UPS Store at 3514 Clinton Parkway.

For procrastinators, the postal service’s deadline for Christmas Eve arrival is Dec. 22. But that could cost you much more than if it were shipped a week earlier. If you go by UPS, the deadline is Dec. 23.

From now until Christmas, the UPS Store sees the amount of packages it ships double each week, Figuieras said.

Dec. 20, the Monday before Christmas, is expected to be the biggest mail day of the year for the postal service with more than 800 million pieces of mail being sent that day.

At the sorting center in Kansas City, which is where Lawrence mail is sent, the facility will process double what it normally would on an average Monday, regional spokesman Rich Watkins said.

To accommodate the shipping rush, both the postal service and UPS will add extra staff. UPS is also extending its hours starting Dec. 13.

“It is Black Friday for a long time for us,” Figuieras said.