77.6%
on time in the worst week of 2025-26 (week of Dec 20)
72.4%
worst week of 2024-25 (week of Dec 21)
84.7%
of 2-day mail on time across October to December 2025 (USPS quarterly report)
Which weeks are slowest?
Christmas week or the week before it. In four of the six seasons the worst week for 2-day mail was the week holding Christmas; in the other two, the week before.
- 2025-26
- 2024-25
- 2020-21 (pandemic)
- Other seasons
Show the numbers as a table
| Week | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 wk before | – | Nov 1391.7% | Nov 1290.4% | Nov 1189.2% | Nov 987.2% | – |
| 5 wk before | Nov 1489.5% | Nov 2092.0% | Nov 1990.3% | Nov 1888.2% | Nov 1686.1% | Nov 1588.5% |
| 4 wk before | Nov 2188.4% | Nov 2791.2% | Nov 2690.3% | Nov 2586.1% | Nov 2384.4% | Nov 2291.2% |
| 3 wk before | Nov 2883.9% | Dec 491.4% | Dec 391.3% | Dec 287.9% | Nov 3082.4% | Nov 2988.4% |
| 2 wk before | Dec 582.3% | Dec 1188.4% | Dec 1089.8% | Dec 985.5% | Dec 781.1% | Dec 686.3% |
| 1 wk before | Dec 1275.7% | Dec 1887.1% | Dec 1786.3% | Dec 1683.1% | Dec 1476.2% | Dec 1384.2% |
| Christmas week | Dec 1969.0% | Dec 2589.2% | Dec 2485.0% | Dec 2384.9% | Dec 2172.4% | Dec 2077.6% |
| 1 wk after | Dec 2670.6% | Jan 189.9% | Dec 3190.4% | Dec 3089.9% | Dec 2882.9% | Dec 2785.9% |
| 2 wk after | Jan 280.3% | Jan 890.0% | Jan 791.3% | Jan 688.0% | Jan 479.4% | Jan 387.6% |
| 3 wk after | Jan 985.2% | Jan 1590.7% | Jan 1492.2% | Jan 1383.8% | Jan 1179.1% | Jan 1087.1% |
How bad was the worst week each year?
2025-26’s worst week was the third worst of the six seasons USPS publishes weekly data for. 2021-22’s worst week was the mildest, at 87.1%.
2020-21week of Dec 1969.0%
2021-22week of Dec 1887.1%
2022-23week of Dec 2485.0%
2023-24week of Dec 1683.1%
2024-25week of Dec 2172.4%
2025-26week of Dec 2077.6%
Measured on the same basis within each group: 2020-21; 2021-22; 2022-23 to 2024-25; 2025-26. USPS changed its standards or what it counts between groups. Source: USPS.
Every season at a glance
| Season | Worst 2-day week | On time that week | Within one extra day | Oct–Dec, 2-day (USPS quarterly) | All single-piece, worst week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | Dec 20–26 | 77.6% | 92.2% | 84.7% | 70.5% |
| 2024-25 | Dec 21–27 | 72.4% | 90.9% | 81.9% | 60.5% |
| 2023-24 | Dec 16–22 | 83.1% | 94.6% | 87.2% | 73.6% |
| 2022-23 | Dec 24–30 | 85.0% | 94.3% | 89.7% | 76.5% |
| 2021-22 | Dec 18–24 | 87.1% | 96.0% | 90.3% | 80.9% |
| 2020-21 | Dec 19–25 | 69.0% | 86.0% | 81.5% | n/a* |
* Before October 2021 USPS’s “all single-piece” weekly figure tracks its 3-day band, not all single-piece mail, so it is not comparable with later seasons and is left out. Source: USPS.
Holiday on-time since 2010
USPS’s own quarterly reports go back further than the weekly data. Measured October to December, 2-day mail was on time 84.7% of the time in 2025.
- AService standards changed January 5, 2015 (first holiday affected: 2015): overnight mail moved predominantly to 2-day, and USPS says 2-day figures from then on cannot be directly compared with earlier ones. Source for break A (opens in a new tab)
- BFrom September 3, 2017 USPS no longer counts single-piece First-Class parcels in these results. Source for break B (opens in a new tab)
- CFrom holiday 2018 USPS measures internally instead of by external sampling (EXFC). Source for break C (opens in a new tab)
- DService standards changed October 1, 2021: USPS added one to two days for some First-Class Mail. Source for break D (opens in a new tab)
- EFrom May 21, 2022 USPS counts business reply mail in these results. Source for break E (opens in a new tab)
- FService standards changed in two phases, April 1 and July 1, 2025. Source for break F (opens in a new tab)
Show the numbers as a table
| Holiday | USPS quarter | 2-day | 3-to-5-day | Measured by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025F | FY2026 Q1 | 84.7% | split† | Internal |
| 2024 | FY2025 Q1 | 81.9% | 64.2% | Internal |
| 2023 | FY2024 Q1 | 87.2% | 70.1% | Internal |
| 2022E | FY2023 Q1 | 89.7% | 81.4% | Internal |
| 2021D | FY2022 Q1 | 90.3% | 78.5% | Internal |
| 2020 | FY2021 Q1 | 81.5% | 54.6% | Internal |
| 2019 | FY2020 Q1 | 91.9% | 78.2% | Internal |
| 2018C | FY2019 Q1 | 89.5% | 72.1% | Internal |
| 2017B | FY2018 Q1 | 93.1% | 78.8% | External (EXFC) |
| 2016 | FY2017 Q1 | 93.8% | 82.3% | External (EXFC) |
| 2015A | FY2016 Q1 | 93.5% | 77.7% | External (EXFC) |
| 2014 | FY2015 Q1 | 94.5% | 83.7% | External (EXFC) |
| 2013 | FY2014 Q1 | 94.2% | 85.1% | External (EXFC) |
| 2012 | FY2013 Q1 | 94.2% | 89.3% | External (EXFC) |
| 2011 | FY2012 Q1 | 92.7% | 88.7% | External (EXFC) |
| 2010 | FY2011 Q1 | 92.4% | 89.2% | External (EXFC) |
† From fiscal 2026 USPS’s quarterly report gives 3-day, 4-day and 5-day mail separately instead of one 3-to-5-day figure. Holiday 2025: 78.4%, 74.7% and 87.4% on time. Each row here is that year’s own report, except 2010, which USPS published only as the prior-year row of the next year’s report.
How these figures are measured
- Source. Weekly figures come from USPS’s Service Performance Dashboard; quarterly figures from USPS’s quarterly performance reports for single-piece First-Class Mail. Federal law requires USPS to publish its service performance data (39 U.S.C. §3692).
- What “on time” means. Delivered within USPS’s own service standard for the route, counted in delivery days. It is not a measure of when a card was mailed against when someone hoped it would arrive.
- Why 2-day mail. It is the band USPS has changed least, and the only one reported under a comparable name in every season shown. It has still changed: see items 6 and 7, and the marked breaks in the charts. The longer bands have changed more: from fiscal 2026 USPS’s quarterly report gives 3-day, 4-day and 5-day mail separately, where it gave one 3-to-5-day figure.
- Weeks. Postal weeks run Saturday to Friday and are labelled by the Saturday they start on. A season here runs from the week holding November 15 to the week holding January 15.
- Weekly and quarterly differ slightly. USPS’s dashboard and its quarterly reports can disagree by a few tenths of a point for the same quarter. Quarterly figures on this page are the reports’ own.
- Measurement break, 2018. Before October 2018 USPS measured with an external sampling system (EXFC); since then with its own internal measurement. Compare within each side of the break.
- What counts as 2-day mail has changed. USPS changed its service standards on January 5, 2015, moving overnight mail predominantly into 2-day; stopped counting parcels in these figures in September 2017; changed its service standards on October 1, 2021, adding one to two days for some First-Class Mail; began counting business reply mail in these figures in May 2022; and changed its First-Class Mail service standards in two phases, on April 1 and July 1, 2025. Each change can move mail into or out of the 2-day band, or change what is counted in it, so figures either side of a change are not strictly like for like. For the first of them USPS’s own reports say so outright: 2-day figures from then on “cannot be directly compared to previous quarters”. The lettered lines under the quarterly chart date each one.
- National only. Every figure is national, and USPS’s weekly data has no district figures for 2020-21. A national figure says nothing about one route; for yours, use the mail time calculator.
- Not ShipNote’s data. Every figure is USPS’s. None comes from ShipNote orders or tracking.
How to cite this page
You are welcome to quote these figures, use the charts and download the data. Our compilation is licensed CC BY 4.0; the underlying figures are USPS’s own published service performance data (federal law, 39 U.S.C. §3692, requires USPS to publish it). Please credit USPS as the source of the data and link to this page:
Source: USPS service performance data, compiled by ShipNote, “Holiday Mail Delays,” https://www.shipnote.co/holiday-mail-delays
In the CSV, shares are fractions (0.776 is 77.6%) and averages are in days. The series breaks are listed under how these figures are measured.
<a href="https://www.shipnote.co/holiday-mail-delays">ShipNote's holiday mail delay data</a>Related
How long does mail take?USPS’s standard for any two ZIP codes, holidays counted.Christmas card statisticsHow many cards Americans send, and what mailing them costs.
Skip the December post office line
ShipNote prints, stamps and mails your holiday cards from a pasted list. Order by December 14, 2026 to arrive by Christmas. We mail every card the next business day, and earlier is safer in December.
