Closed for the holidays: the last-order-date email a small shop sends in December

Christmas 2026 falls on a Friday. The US Postal Service's last recommended day to send by its cheapest parcel service is Thursday 17 December; Royal Mail's for 2nd Class is Friday 18 December. A shop that packs once a day and posts the next morning can't promise either date to its customers. It has to work out its own, a day or two earlier, and then tell people once, clearly, before they start asking.

That's the last-order-date email. It answers the one question every December customer has ("if I order today, will it get there?") with a date per shipping option, says when you're closed and when orders ship again, and gives late buyers somewhere to go. Below: the carriers' published dates for Christmas 2026, the sum that turns them into your order-by dates, what the email lists, the two sends, and who you may send it to.

The carriers' dates for Christmas 2026

These are the last days to hand the parcel to the carrier for expected delivery by 25 December, as the carriers published them in September and October 2026. They're recommendations, not guarantees, and the carriers say they can change.

USPS, from the lower 48 states

FedEx and UPS

FedEx publishes Ground dates by the number of transit days, because Ground from Maine to Oregon takes longer than Ground across a state. Look up your usual transit time on the FedEx rate tool for your farthest common customer, then read the row.

UPS has no Ground pickups on Christmas Eve (Air only, if arranged by 18 December) and no pickup or delivery on New Year's Day. A Ground parcel dropped off on the 24th doesn't move until the week after Christmas.

Royal Mail and Parcelforce, within the UK

Royal Mail gives no single Christmas date for international post in 2026; its page points to the delivery aims for each country and says to post as early as possible. The UK bank holidays fall on Friday 25 December, Monday 28 December (Boxing Day moved from the Saturday) and Friday 1 January, plus Monday 4 January in Scotland.

From the carrier's date to your order-by date

The carrier's date is when the parcel must leave you. Your customers need the date they must order by. Count back in the days you actually pack and post:

order-by date = carrier's last day
                - your handling time (working days from order to drop-off)
                - one working day of buffer

The buffer is for the day a printer jams, a supplier is late or forty orders arrive at once. Leave it out only for express options you dispatch the same day, and then put a time on it.

Worked for a US shop that packs Monday to Friday, takes one working day to ship an order, and posts with USPS from Maine. These are the dates in the email pictured above:

The same shop in the UK, posting on weekdays only:

Notice the 1st Class row: Royal Mail's date is a Monday, so with one day's handling and one of buffer, the order has to be in by Thursday. Weekends eat two of the last six days before Christmas. If you post on Saturdays, redo the sum with Saturday counted.

Two more rules. Give a time and a time zone with every date ("11:59 pm Eastern"), because a customer in California reading "Tuesday" will order at 10 pm Pacific, which is already Wednesday in Maine. And if your checkout lists shipping options by price rather than carrier, use the names on the checkout in the email, with the carrier service in brackets, so the customer can match them.

What the email lists

• The main date in the subject. "Order by Tue 15 Dec for Christmas delivery" is useful in the inbox list without opening the email. Pick the date of your most used option, usually the cheapest.
• An order-by date for each shipping option, with the time and time zone, in the order of your checkout. International first, because it's the earliest.
• Where the dates apply. Lower 48 only, or the whole country, and what Alaska, Hawaii, the Highlands or the islands should use instead.
• The days you're closed, and whether the shop still takes orders then. Most should: an order on 27 December that ships on 4 January is still a sale.
• When orders ship again, as a date, and in what order (oldest first).
• The returns window for gifts, if you extend it. Amazon's is the date people know: in 2026 it takes back eligible items bought from 1 November to 31 December until 31 January 2027, and has said it will do the same every year. Matching it costs a small shop little and removes a reason to wait.
• A way out for anyone too late: a gift card by email, local pickup, or a printable note saying a gift is on its way.
• How to reach you, and how fast you answer in December.

What it leaves out: "guaranteed". The postal dates are the carriers' recommendations, and USPS says actual delivery depends on origin, destination and acceptance time. Say "for Christmas delivery" and stand behind your own dates by refunding the shipping when a parcel you sent in time arrives late.

There's a legal reason for care, too. In the US, the FTC's Mail, Internet or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule says that when you state a shipping time, you need a reasonable basis for it, and if you then can't ship in time you must tell the customer and offer to cancel with a full refund. In the UK, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (section 28) lets a customer treat the contract as at an end if a delivery date that was essential, and "for Christmas" printed in your own email makes it essential, is missed. Dates with a buffer built in keep you on the right side of both.

Email 1: two weeks before, with every date

Send it once your dates are fixed and the Thanksgiving-to-Cyber-Monday noise has passed. In 2026 Cyber Monday is 30 November, so Wednesday 2 December works: thirteen days before the standard cut-off, early enough to plan a gift, close enough to be remembered.

Subject: Order by Tue 15 Dec for Christmas delivery
Preview: Every date for December, and when we're closed

Hi Sam,

Christmas is on a Friday this year, and the post gets slow well
before it. Here is the last day to order for each way we ship, so
nobody has to guess.

Order by 11:59 pm Eastern on:
  International (all countries) ....... Mon 7 Dec
  Standard (USPS Ground Advantage) .... Tue 15 Dec
  Priority (USPS Priority Mail) ....... Wed 16 Dec
  Express (Priority Mail Express) ..... Fri 18 Dec, noon
These are for addresses in the lower 48 states. Alaska, Hawaii and
Puerto Rico: please use Priority by Wed 16 Dec.

We're closed Thu 24 Dec to Sun 3 Jan. The shop stays open for
orders; anything placed then ships on Mon 4 Jan, oldest first.

Buying a gift? Anything bought from 1 Nov can come back until
31 Jan, so there's no rush for whoever opens it.

Missed the date? A gift card arrives by email in minutes:
https://harbourroasters.example/gift-card

Questions: reply to this email. We answer within a working day.

Tom and Ana, Harbour Roasters
12 Quay Street, Portland, ME 04101

It's plain on purpose. The dates are the content; a banner image of snowflakes with the dates baked into it is unreadable when images are off and invisible to anyone using a screen reader. Put them in text.

Email 2: on the last standard day, short

Send it on the morning of the cut-off for your most used option, so people have the whole day. In the US example that's Tuesday 15 December at 9 am Eastern. It carries only what changed: today is the day, and what still works after it.

Subject: Today's the last day for standard shipping
Preview: Order by 11:59 pm Eastern, Tue 15 Dec

Hi Sam,

A short one: today, Tue 15 Dec, is the last day to order with
standard shipping and still have it there for Christmas.

After today:
  Priority, order by Wed 16 Dec
  Express, order by Fri 18 Dec at noon
  Gift card by email, any time, even on the 24th

Closed Thu 24 Dec to Sun 3 Jan; orders from then ship Mon 4 Jan.

Tom and Ana, Harbour Roasters

Leave out the people who have already ordered since email 1. They don't need it, and they're the ones most likely to mark a repeat as spam.

The month, day by day

Two emails, not five. Google's sender guidelines ask bulk senders to keep the spam rate reported in Postmaster Tools under 0.1% and never let it reach 0.3%. A list of 2,000 people reaches 0.3% with six complaints, and December reminders are the ones people complain about. The site banner can change every day; the inbox shouldn't.

Who you may send it to

This email sells, so the law treats it as marketing, not as a service message about an order:

The last row is a different email: "Your order 2291 ships on Monday 4 January" to the people whose order is actually affected. That one needs no consent and no unsubscribe link, and it should carry nothing but the order. The shipping email article covers that note and what to send when a parcel goes wrong in the post. For the line between reminders you may send and ones you need consent for, see the abandoned-cart article.

Sending it from your own shop code

If your shop or app sends its own email, the two December emails are one call per customer on email59's /v1/send, marked as marketing so the unsubscribe link goes in and anyone who unsubscribed is refused before it costs anything. reply_to sends answers to your real inbox. Run it from a cron job at 9 am on the two dates, and for email 2 skip anyone with an order since 2 December.

curl -s https://email59.com/v1/send \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer e59_live_...' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"from":"harbourroasters","to":"sam@example.com",
       "reply_to":"hello@harbourroasters.example",
       "category":"marketing","list_id":"customers",
       "subject":"Order by Tue 15 Dec for Christmas delivery",
       "preheader":"Every date for December, and when we are closed",
       "text":"Hi Sam,\n\nChristmas is on a Friday this year..."}'

The first 200 emails a day are free, which covers a small shop's December list in a day or two. The docs list the fields, and templates put your shop's name and colour on it.

The short version

• Carrier dates for Christmas 2026: USPS Ground Advantage Thu 17 Dec, Priority Fri 18, Express Sat 19, international Wed 9; FedEx Ground 15 to 23 Dec by transit days; Royal Mail 2nd Class Fri 18, 1st Class Mon 21.
• Your order-by date = carrier date minus handling minus one buffer day, counted in days you post.
• List a date, time and time zone per shipping option, closed days, when orders ship again, the gift returns window and a gift card for the late.
• Two emails: Wed 2 Dec with everything, the morning of the last standard day with only that.
• It's marketing: unsubscribe link, postal address, no one who opted out. Delay notes about real orders are transactional.

Sources

• USPS, 2026 Holiday Shipping Deadlines (domestic, international and military send-by dates, recommended not guaranteed)
• ShipStation, US 2026 holiday shipping deadlines for UPS, USPS and FedEx (updated 21 October 2026; FedEx dates from the FedEx 2026 Peak Last Day to Ship schedule, UPS from its holiday schedule)
• UPS, Holiday Schedule (no Ground pickup on 24 December; no pickup or delivery on New Year's Day)
• Royal Mail, Last posting dates for Christmas 2026 (inland and Parcelforce; read 1 November 2026)
• GOV.UK, UK bank holidays
• Value Added Resource, Amazon sets 2026 holiday return window (1 Nov to 31 Dec purchases, returns until 31 Jan 2027, every year)
• FTC, Business guide to the Mail, Internet or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule
• Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 28: delivery of goods
• FTC, CAN-SPAM Act: a compliance guide for business
• ICO, Guidance on direct marketing using electronic mail (PECR, the soft opt-in)
• Google, Email sender guidelines (spam rate under 0.1%, never 0.3%)

Dates checked on 1 November 2026 and can change; check your carrier's page again before you send. Harbour Roasters and the .example addresses are made up. USPS, FedEx, UPS, Royal Mail, Parcelforce and Amazon are named for their published dates; email59 is not affiliated with any of them. This is general information, not legal advice.