UPS Holiday Schedule for 2026 and 2027

Updated October 2026.

UPS does not pick up or deliver Ground or Air packages on nine holidays in 2026: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Three of those fall on a weekend this year: Easter and Mother's Day are Sundays and July 4 is a Saturday, which leaves six weekday closures. UPS is open on Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Juneteenth, Friday, July 3, Columbus Day, Veterans Day and the day after Thanksgiving. Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are working days with limits on what moves.

This page covers UPS in the United States, using UPS's own dates. For the postal calendar, read when USPS does not deliver.

Every 2026 holiday and whether UPS is running

The status column is for UPS's own Ground, Air and international pickup and delivery. The UPS Store is different, and that is covered further down.

UPS Express Critical, the urgent same-day service UPS provides through Marken, is available every day of the year, holidays included.

Every date on this page comes from UPS's 2026 holiday operations schedule and 2026 year-end holiday schedule, the two calendars linked from its holiday schedule page. UPS says both are subject to change.

Holidays when UPS is open

Several of the days people ask about most are days UPS is working. In 2026 UPS runs normal pickup and delivery on Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Juneteenth, Columbus Day, Veterans Day and the Friday after Thanksgiving, even though post offices and most government offices close on several of those days.

The same goes for the federal "observed" day. July 4, 2026 is a Saturday, so the federal government observed it on Friday, July 3. UPS did not. Its Ground, Air and international operations ran as normal on July 3; only UPS Air and Ocean Freight closed that day. UPS publishes its own list rather than copying the federal one, so check the table rather than assuming a Monday or Friday closure around a weekend holiday.

Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve: open, with limits

These two days trip up sellers who ship their own orders, because UPS is open but not for everything.

Thursday, December 24

• Delivery: UPS delivers Air, international Air, UPS Standard and UPS Ground packages.
• Pickup: only Air and international Air packages, and only if the pickup was arranged by Friday, December 18. UPS On-Call Pickup is available to anyone for Air packages. A regular daily pickup will not collect Ground parcels that day.
• Timing: a Next Day Air package picked up on December 24 is scheduled for delivery on Monday, December 28.

Thursday, December 31

• Delivery: Air and international Air packages only. Ground packages are not delivered on New Year's Eve.
• Pickup: Air and international Air only, arranged by Monday, December 28, or through On-Call Pickup.
• Timing: a Next Day Air package picked up on December 31 is scheduled for delivery on Monday, January 4.

The two Saturdays that follow, December 26 and January 2, are also Air-only days: normal pickup and delivery for Air and international Air, nothing for Ground. UPS's "Air" here means Next Day Air Early, Next Day Air, Next Day Air Saver, 2nd Day Air A.M., 2nd Day Air and the Worldwide Express, Saver, Expedited and Express Freight services. For how UPS handles Saturdays the rest of the year, read does UPS deliver on Saturday.

Last days to ship for delivery by December 24

UPS publishes recommended ship-by dates for its Air services within the US and to Canada and Mexico. It does not publish one for Ground, because Ground transit time depends on where the package starts and ends; for Ground, UPS points you to its time-in-transit calculator for your own lanes.

UPS adds that shipments to some destinations need an earlier ship date, and that December 23 Next Day Air packages must be tendered through On-Call Pickup, Smart Pickup, a prearranged pickup, a UPS Store or a UPS Authorized Service Location. If you are weighing the cheaper options, UPS 3 Day Select and UPS Ground explain what each service promises the rest of the year.

Thanksgiving week and the days around the closures

A package picked up the day before a holiday closure arrives later than the service name suggests, because the closed day does not count. UPS spells out the ones that matter:

• Wednesday, November 25: normal service. Next Day Air picked up that day is scheduled for Friday, November 27. 2nd Day Air picked up that day is scheduled for Monday, November 30, unless it was processed and labeled for Saturday, November 28 delivery.
• Friday, November 27: normal pickup and delivery.
• Tuesday, December 22: 3 Day Select picked up that day is scheduled for Monday, December 28.
• Monday, December 28 through Wednesday, December 30: normal service.

If you promise customers a delivery date, use the scheduled delivery date UPS shows when you create the label, not the service name. For what time packages usually arrive on a normal day, see what time UPS stops delivering.

UPS versus The UPS Store on a holiday

The UPS Store locations are independently owned franchises. On every day UPS lists as closed, it lists The UPS Store as "limited locations", meaning some stores open and some do not, on their own hours. On New Year's Eve, UPS itself is open for Air while The UPS Store is again listed as limited. If you drop packages at a store, call it before you drive over on a holiday. Because UPS itself is not collecting on a closure day, a package dropped at an open store that day waits for UPS's next scheduled pickup from that store.

Expected UPS holidays in 2027

UPS has not published its 2027 US schedule yet. The only 2027 date it has confirmed is Friday, January 1, 2027, which is closed. Based on the days UPS closed in 2026, the expected 2027 closures are:

• New Year's Day, Friday, January 1
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 18
• Easter, Sunday, March 28
• Mother's Day, Sunday, May 9
• Memorial Day, Monday, May 31
• Independence Day, Sunday, July 4
• Labor Day, Monday, September 6
• Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 25
• Christmas Day, Saturday, December 25
• New Year's Day 2028, Saturday, January 1

Five of those fall on a weekend. Easter and Mother's Day always do, and UPS closes on them regardless. The open question is the two weekend holidays that get a federal "observed" day: the federal government will observe Independence Day on Monday, July 5 and Christmas on Friday, December 24. UPS stayed open on the federal observed day in 2026, and it has not said what it will do in 2027. Treat July 5 and December 24, 2027 as unconfirmed rather than planning on service either way, and check UPS's schedule before promising a customer a delivery date around them. This page will be updated when UPS posts the 2027 calendar.

Quick answers

Is UPS open on Christmas Eve?

Yes. On Thursday, December 24, 2026, UPS delivers Ground and Air packages. Pickups are limited to Air packages arranged by December 18 or booked through On-Call Pickup, so a regular daily pickup will not take Ground parcels.

Does UPS deliver on New Year's Eve?

Only Air packages. On Thursday, December 31, 2026, UPS delivers Air and international Air services and does not deliver Ground. UPS is closed on New Year's Day.

Is UPS open the day after Thanksgiving?

Yes. UPS is closed on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, 2026, and runs normal pickup and delivery on Friday, November 27.

Is UPS open on Presidents' Day and Veterans Day?

Yes to both. UPS runs normal pickup and delivery on Presidents' Day, Monday, February 16, 2026 and Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, 2026, although USPS is closed on both.

If you would rather hand the carrier planning to someone else, Simpl Fulfillment ships orders from its Austin, Texas warehouse with UPS, USPS and FedEx, and orders received before 12pm CT ship the same day.