USPS is Closed Today in Observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day – January 17, 2022
Martin Luther King’s Birthday is a federal holiday observed on the third Monday in January to honor and reflect on the legacy of the influential civil rights leader. This year, the holiday falls on Monday, January 17, 2022 and is sometimes also referred to as MLK Day. King’s actual birthday is January 15.
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On this day, most government offices, banks, and some businesses are closed. The United States Postal Service observes the holiday as well with most facilities and services not operating today.
What is closed today or not operational today at USPS?
- No counter operations at retail post offices around the country.
- No regular mail delivery.
- No regular mail pick-up.
- No mail pickup from USPS mailboxes.
- No USPS phone customer service.
What is open or operational today at USPS?
- Access PO Boxes at most locations, if separated area from counter operations/lobby.
- Use self-service machines at most locations, if separated area from counter operations/lobby.
- Priority Mail Express may be delivered. Restrictions and conditions apply, check tracking.
- Online USPS Ship-N-Click is fully functional.
- Inside and outside USPS mailboxes are open 24/7 – but outside boxes could become very full at busy post office locations.
Expect Shipping Issues due to winter storms this week.
Over the weekend and today, there is still significant winter storm weather impacting much of the east coast. Please see this advisory as it may impact shipping this week.
Tips for Sellers
Federal holidays when USPS is closed are always a bit tricky for sellers because many buyers don’t think about them as “holidays” as retailers and most private companies are open. Here are some tips on how to deal with shipments today.
- Process USPS shipments as usual, but a good practice is to notify buyers that today is a Postal Holiday and there are no postal operations today. Buyers will still get a tracking number, but by notifying them of the holiday they won’t expect to see any movement scans until Tuesday.
- For urgent shipments, consider using UPS and FedEx, as both carriers operate today. For sellers who need to drop off package(s), both carriers have an extensive nationwide store network.
- Also, UPS and FedEx have small package drop boxes, and agreements with many independent national retailers, private shipping centers, and mailbox stores. Check their websites for more details.
- The Sendle shipping service which is becoming popular among some marketplace sellers mostly relies on the USPS to deliver packages in the US.
- If using USPS Scan Forms, the best practice is to close out the day as usual. Some shipping platforms may not allow this or they may allow rolling over today’s shipments to the next business day. Check with them for details.
- Avoid using outside USPS mailboxes (the blue boxes) at busy post office locations as they could become very full.
- eBay, Etsy, Poshmark, PayPal and other platforms that offer USPS shipping services will all process USPS labels today. However, most of them will not inform buyers that today is a holiday. See the suggestion above for USPS shipments.
Additional Federal / USPS Holidays in 2022
Looking forward to this year, here is a list of the remaining federal and postal holidays in 2022.
- Monday, February 21 – Presidents’ Day
- Monday, May 30 – Memorial Day
- Monday, June 20* – Juneteenth National Independence Day
- Monday, July 4 – Independence Day
- Monday, September 5 – Labor Day
- Monday, October 10 – Columbus Day
- Friday, November 11 – Veterans Day
- Thursday, November 24 – Thanksgiving Day
- Monday, December 26 (observed)** – Christmas Day
* New federal holiday added last year that will be first observed this year by USPS.
** December 25, 2022 (Christmas Day), falls on a Sunday. Monday, December 26, will be treated as a federal holiday.
Here is a more complete list of all major holidays and other important dates for eCommerce in 2022.
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Richard Meldner
Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.
To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.