What is UPS’s Canadian 2024 year-end holiday schedule?

What is UPS’s Canadian 2024 year-end holiday schedule?

The year-end coincides with Christmas holidays, and is therefore, a very busy time for UPS. Nevertheless, UPS employees also deserve some time off and the company closes or curtails operations for a few days over Christmas and the New Year. This blog identifies the days and hours of operations for that time period as well as the last days to ship with UPS for Canadian and American destinations, which essentially means when to ship a parcel to ensure it reaches its destination for Christmas.

As you may expect, shipping costs increase during the peak season, and previous blogs in this space have discussed carrier’s seasonal surcharges. But to remind the reader, this blog also discusses Secureship, whose shipping calculator will help you find big savings with UPS and other carriers no matter the season you are shipping parcels.

Table of Contents

• UPS’s 2024 Canadian Year-End Holiday Schedule
• Last Days to Ship with UPS at Christmastime
• Secureship’s Cost Savings
• Conclusion

UPS’s 2024 Canadian Year-End Holiday Schedule

As you can imagine, parcel pickups and deliveries become particularly demanding for UPS and its employees in the approach to the Christmas break. And they too deserve a holiday break; therefore, there are no pickup or delivery services in Canada on December 25 and 26 and on January 1, 2025. (Note: UPS Express Critical service operates 365 days a year.)

However, all regular services will be provided as follows:

1. During the especially busy period of December 16 - 23.
2. For December 24, all delivery services, but pickups ONLY for UPS Air Service Shipments.
3. Regular pickup and deliveries from December 27 - 30, and from January 2, 2025 onwards.
4. For December 31, pickup and delivery of UPS Air Service Shipments only.

Finally, during the year-end holiday time there may be some extensions to UPS’s delivery commitment times in the period of November 24, 2024 to January 10, 2025.

Last Days to Ship with UPS at Christmastime 2024

For Canadian customers shipping domestically and to the USA at the end of December 2024, the last days to ship with UPS (to ensure on-time delivery) are outlined in the table below.

Domestic Deliveries		USA-bound deliveries
Service	Last Day to Ship	Service	Last Day to Ship
		Three-day delivery	December 19
Expedited	December 20	Expedited	December 20
Express	December 23	Express	December 23

Of course, weather events in North America are unpredictable, particularly in the winter months, and even the best laid plans can go awry. So, for parcels of special importance, it is always recommended that during the peak season, they be shipped earlier than the ‘Last Day to Ship’.

Secureship’s Cost Savings

To reduce your shipping costs year round, look no further than to Canada’s premier shipping broker, Secureship. When you use Secureship’s shipping estimator, it takes only a few minutes for it to generate numerous shipping options with UPS, FedEx, and Purolator.

Firstly, there will be large price reductions from the courier’s retail price, anywhere between 20% and 50%. Secondly, they come with varying delivery times (typically longer ones cost less), so that you can pick the one that best suits your budget and the recipients’ requirements.

In addition, during its 17 years of service, Secureship has amassed a series of articles, guides, and blogs on a range of topics to help you with any of your shipping questions. Whether you need an instant answer, a more in-depth article, or perhaps a guide to shipping goods to a foreign country, that can all be freely found on our website.

Conclusion

UPS offers its full range of pickup and delivery services until December 23, 2024. On December 24th, deliveries continue but UPS only provides pickups for UPS Air Service Shipments. No services are available on Dec. 25 and 26, and Jan. 1, but normal services occur from Dec. 27 - Dec. 30, and from Jan. 2, 2025 onwards. However, there are dates after which UPS cannot guarantee delivery to the recipient by Christmas Day; for example, using Expedited Service to Canadian and US destinations, the last day to ship is December 20.

With the busy season comes higher shipping fees, but some relief can be had when you have the Canadian broker Secureship finding you savings with UPS, as well as Purolator and FedEx, of potentially up to 50%. And that is not just during the peak season, but year round.