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New Year's Day

Are post offices open and will mail be delivered on 2021 New Year’s Eve and Day?

Packages you want to send may have to wait as post offices close during the New Year period.

A Christmas-themed decoration, featuring knitted snowmen, is pictured on the top of a traditional red Royal Mail post box in Shoreham, southern England on December 22, 2021.
Glyn KirkAFP

Post offices will be closed on December 31 and Saturday 1 January, meaning you won’t be able to enter a post office to send a package. Like previous years, New Year’s Day is always a postal holiday. However, mail will be delivered as scheduled on December 31, despite the offices themselves being closed. Additionally, mail will be picked up from collection boxes on the 31st, but not on New Year’s Day.

Those expecting packages will have to wait until 3 January for regular postal services to resume.

Usually, postal services are not affected on December 31, but as the federal holiday falls on a Saturday, workers get the preceding Friday as holiday.

Related news:

Why do post offices close on New year's Day?

Federal holidays mean that federal employees are entitled to paid time off, outside usual holiday they can take. Obviously, if there is no one to work, then the offices need to be closed.

What other federal holidays prevent the post being sent?

The Postal Service has 10 days in the year when mail and packages are not sent. These are in line with federal holidays, as the service is run by the federal government. These days are:

  • New Year's Day: Jan. 1
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Jan. 18
  • Presidents' Day/Washington's Birthday: Feb. 15
  • Memorial Day: May 31
  • Independence Day: July 5 (observed, because July 4 falls on a Sunday)
  • Labor Day: Sept. 6
  • Columbus Day: Oct. 11
  • Veterans Day: Nov. 11
  • Thanksgiving: Nov. 25
  • Christmas: Dec. 25