Is There Mail Delivery New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day? Post Office Holiday Schedule 2016-2017

New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday this year, and that’s causing a bit of confusion for many people who are trying to find out how the federal holiday will affect closing times at U.S. Post Office locations across the nation.

If you need to mail a package, are waiting for important mail to arrive, or just need to get to the post office to buy stamps, keep in mind that starting on New Year’s Eve (December 31, 2016), the U.S. Postal Service will observe holiday hours and only limited deliveries right through Monday, January 2, 2017.

Here’s the low-down on the post office holiday hours for New Year’s weekend and a complete list of 2017 federal holidays so you can note on your calendar all of the days that the post office will be closed. And if you’re wondering about UPS and FedEx, with information about the holiday hours for both companies is provided as well.

January 1 is the first of 10 federal holidays in 2017, and according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, if a holiday falls on a Sunday the holiday usually is observed on Monday, so that means all U.S. Post Office locations will be closed on Monday, January 2, but certain packages will be delivered both during the weekend and on Monday.

New Year’s Eve: Letter carriers will be out delivering mail and packages on New Year’s Eve, and all post office branches will be open regular business hours Saturday, December 31. Keep in mind that many locations close at noon on Saturdays throughout the year.

New Year’s Day: On Sunday, January 1, all branches will be closed, and there won’t be any mail delivery other than Priority Mail Express packages.

According to the official USPS website, all mail should be placed in blue collection boxes by 12 p.m. noon on December 31. If you don’t get your mail in the box by that time, you will have to wait until Tuesday. Mail won’t be picked up from collection boxes on Sunday, January 1 or Monday, January 2, 2017.

Monday, January 2 is a federal holiday, so all post office branches will be closed and general mail will not be delivered except for Priority Mail Express packages. Mail delivery will resume and all U.S. Post Office locations will re-open on Tuesday, January 3, 2017.

UPS and FedEx holiday schedule

All FedEx locations will close by 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve (December 31). Only Custom Critical packages will be delivered on Sunday, January 1 and Monday, January 2. Deliveries will resume and FedEx offices will be open regular hours on Tuesday, January 3.

UPS will only deliver select packages on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day including packages shipped Worldwide Express, Next Day Air, or 2nd Day Air for Saturday delivery. All UPS offices will be closed on Monday, January 2 in observance of the federal holiday, but UPS Express Critical deliveries will be made.

2017 Federal Holidays

Whether you are planning ahead for the next holiday or simply want to know when your next day off is, here’s a look at the dates for all 10 federal holidays in 2017.

• New Year’s Day (January 1) – observed on Monday, January 2
• Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday – Monday, January 16
• Washington’s Birthday (Presidents Day) — Monday, February 20**
• Memorial Day — Monday, May 29
• Independence Day — Tuesday, July 4
• Labor Day — Monday, September 4
• Columbus Day — Monday, October 9
• Veterans Day (November 11) — observed on Friday, November 10
• Thanksgiving Day — Thursday, November 23
• Christmas Day — Monday, December 25

Note that holidays that fall on a Sunday are observed on a Monday and any holiday that falls on a Saturday is observed on a Friday.

If you are a federal employee and work in the District of Columbia, Montgomery or Prince George’s Counties in Maryland, Arlington, or Fairfax Counties in Virginia, or the cities of Alexandria or Fairfax in Virginia, you may have the day off on January 20 — Inauguration Day.

According to OPM.gov, if you are “regularly scheduled to perform non-overtime work” on the day Donald Trump is sworn in as president, you will have the day off.

[Featured Image by Scott Olson/Getty Images]