Holiday parcels bound for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the other U.S. territories have to be in the mail by Wednesday, December 16 if they travel by USPS Ground Advantage, the Postal Service says in its 2026 holiday schedule. That is one day ahead of the Thursday, December 17 cutoff for the same service in the lower 48 states. The dates are recommendations for delivery before Christmas, and actual delivery can vary. The one-day gap is small, but the service chosen carries a price tag this season: parcels sent by Ground Advantage, Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express are now subject to a temporary add-on that runs until January 17, 2027.
The Postal Service published the chart on September 22. In the lower 48, Ground Advantage and First-Class Mail should go out by December 17, Priority Mail by December 18 and Priority Mail Express by December 19, which is a Saturday. For Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the territories, First-Class Mail, Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express keep those same three dates. Ground Advantage is the only service that moves, to December 16, and the Postal Service’s holiday page adds that offshore Ground Advantage packages may take longer than the chart implies.
Anyone sending parcels to those destinations is therefore choosing a service as much as a date. Staying with Ground Advantage means handing the parcel over by December 16, and the Postal Service tells senders to look up the estimated delivery date for the destination ZIP code and move the mailing date up if needed. Paying for Priority Mail pushes the cutoff two days later, to December 18, and Priority Mail Express reaches December 19. The September 22 holiday release lists the three side by side for both zones.
The December 16 Ground Advantage date for Alaska, Hawaii and the territories falls a day ahead of the lower 48 cutoff and catches senders who assume one December date fits every ZIP code.
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What the temporary holiday rates add to a parcel
The add-on was announced in an August 25 Postal Service release. The temporary rates take effect at 12 a.m. Central time on October 4, pending review by the Postal Regulatory Commission, and stay in place until 12 a.m. Central time on January 17, 2027. They apply to Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage and Parcel Select, for retail and commercial customers alike. The Postal Service describes the change as a way to help cover extra handling costs during the peak season, and the filing sits under Docket No. CP2026-10.
The release states every increase in dollars rather than percentages, and the amounts depend on weight and zone. At retail, Priority Mail in Zones 1 through 4 for packages up to 3 pounds rises by $0.50, while Priority Mail in Zones 5 through 9 for packages of 4 to 10 pounds rises by $2.10, the same as a Large Flat Rate Box. USPS Ground Advantage in Zones 5 through 9 for parcels of 26 to 70 pounds, and for oversized parcels, rises by $7.50. Priority Mail Express in Zones 1 through 4 for 26 to 70 pounds rises by $12.70. The release names only the four parcel products and says no other products or services are affected.
The release does not address Alaska, Hawaii or the territories separately. Its price schedules are split into Zones 1 through 4 and Zones 5 through 9, with weight bands up to 70 pounds, so the size of the add-on on any one parcel depends on distance and weight, and the release does not say which zone band an Alaska or Hawaii address falls into. A light gift box and a heavy carton of household goods can end up on opposite sides of the table above. The Postal Service also has not said what prices apply once the temporary rates end on January 17, 2027.
Duties on parcels to four territories
A separate cost applies to some territory-bound parcels. On its holiday shipping dates page, the Postal Service says U.S. Customs and Border Protection requires duties, taxes and fees to be prepaid, with proof of payment, on items up to $2,500 entering the United States from American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico is not on that list. The same page puts all of those destinations on the December 16 Ground Advantage date and notes that offshore Ground Advantage packages may take longer.
The first deadlines on the chart actually belong to military mail. Ground Advantage to APO, FPO and DPO addresses should be sent by Wednesday, November 4 for all listed ZIP codes, while First-Class Mail and Priority Mail to those addresses are due by Wednesday, December 9. Priority Mail Express Military Service is due December 16, except for ZIP code 093, where it is unavailable, and it is offered only at selected military and diplomatic Post Offices. International mail has its own dates: December 9 for First-Class Package International and Priority Mail International, and December 16 for Priority Mail Express International.
Canada is the exception to those international dates. A notice on the Postal Service’s service alerts page says that, effective November 29, international mail service to Canada is temporarily suspended because of a strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. The notice gives no end date and no list of affected products, and it does not say what happens to items already in the mail or whether postage will be refunded. Canada still appears among the destinations on the December 9 and December 16 international dates.
Picking a service for an Alaska or Hawaii parcel
All of the dates on the chart are for delivery before December 25, and the Postal Service’s holiday page says actual delivery dates may vary by origin, destination, time of acceptance and other conditions. Hanukkah also falls earlier this year, from December 4 to 12, and the page advises senders to adjust holiday mailing plans accordingly. A parcel handed over on the final recommended day has no room for a delay at either end.
Because both Ground Advantage and Priority Mail carry the temporary add-on, the add-on does not separate them. What separates them is the base postage and two days of calendar, December 16 for one and December 18 for the other. The release states the add-on in dollars, so the total on any parcel depends on its weight and zone, and the heaviest and oversized parcels carry the largest amounts, up to $7.50 more for Ground Advantage and $12.70 more for Priority Mail Express in the examples given.
The temporary rates end at 12 a.m. Central time on January 17, 2027, and the Postal Service has not said what prices follow. Its August 25 release made the October 4 start conditional on favorable review by the Postal Regulatory Commission. A parcel mailed on the December 16 cutoff will have entered the system under a rate that has a posted end date only a few weeks later.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Money Overview’s editorial team.
