Is USPS Open On Black Friday? (2022 Updated)

Black Friday is an unofficial shopping holiday that features great deals.

Some workers automatically get Black Friday off while others take the holiday off.

Since Black Friday comes right after Thanksgiving, a federal holiday, you may wonder if the USPS reopens or is still closed.

Is USPS Open On Black Friday?

Yes, the USPS is open on Black Friday.

That’s because although a lot of people take Black Friday off or have it off, it is not an officially recognized federal holiday.

As such, the USPS is open.

The USPS only closes on federal holidays and Sundays.

Are Businesses Open On Black Friday?

While most businesses close on Black Friday, many remain open.

Black Friday is a time when retail stores, primarily, have huge discounts on their items.

Shoppers can buy big-ticket items for cheaper prices.

Some consider Black Friday the start of the holiday season.

After Black Friday is over, some stores keep discounted prices, albeit not as low, to encourage shoppers to continue buying from them.

It’s also a time when people do a lot of their holiday shopping.

Since they’re able to get toys, electronics, and other items at a cheaper price, it only makes sense to do the bulk of their holiday shopping on Black Friday.

To ensure they’re able to make as much money as possible, retail businesses remain open on Black Friday.

Certain service-based businesses also remain open on Friday.

They may be looking to entice customers to their doors with low prices as well.

For example, a massage parlor might have discounted massages on Black Friday.

Shoppers, exhausted from the day’s events, might find the offer too good to refuse and enjoy a good massage after shopping all day.

Restaurants tend to remain open, too, since they know some shoppers are going to want to stop and eat after shopping all day.

It’s a day where businesses can make a good amount of money before the holidays officially begin.

How Do You Know If Mail Gets Delivered On Black Friday?

If you were expecting mail or a package on Thanksgiving, you may wonder if you’re going to get it on Black Friday instead.

Luckily, there is a way that you can easily know if anything is coming to your home or mailbox that day.

It’s a service called Informed Delivery.

To sign up for Informed Delivery, you need to make an account on the USPS website.

Then you can opt into Informed Delivery.

When you opt-in, the post office will scan and take a photo of some of the mail that’s headed your way.

You’ll receive an email with the images or a simple email saying that you have mail headed your way.

In most cases, Informed Delivery is accurate.

If it says there is mail headed your way, you can expect it that day.

You’ll even be able to see which mail is arriving, although it doesn’t always show every piece of mail.

Sometimes, however, the mail doesn’t arrive until the next day.

That said, it’s a useful service that you can use to find out if you need to walk to your mailbox that day or not.

Since the USPS is open on Black Friday, you can also check your email on Black Friday to see if anything is coming to your mailbox.

Can You Track A USPS Truck?

No, you cannot track a USPS truck.

If you want to know if you have mail arriving before Thanksgiving or on Black Friday, then you won’t be able to find out through tracking.

Here are a few reasons why you can’t track a USPS truck.

1. Federal Or Private Documents

The main reason why the USPS doesn’t allow tracking on their trucks is because of private documents.

Some letters contain sensitive information about an individual.

They might have a voter card in the mail or other letters that contain sensitive information like a social security number.

If the USPS had tracking on their trucks, criminals would have an easy time targeting them and stealing that information.

That also includes federal information related to taxes and other important information.

Without tracking, it makes it a bit more difficult for criminals to plan a possible heist or robbery of a truck.

While this might make trying to figure out where your mail or package is a bit more inconvenient, it also makes mail delivery safer.

2. Money

Another reason the USPS doesn’t have tracking on their cars is that sometimes people send money to one another.

That makes USPS trucks a prime target among certain criminals.

Even if there’s only $20 on the truck, some criminals are desperate enough for any kind of cash.

Besides cash, sometimes letters will contain checks.

Criminals could then use that information to steal money from the checking account.

Not including tracking makes the delivery of that type of information and content a bit safer.

3. Low Budget

The USPS has a tight budget.

They’re barely able to afford new trucks when their older ones wear out.

Some can’t even afford to pay their workers, so they have to cut down on the number of postal workers that they have.

Because they have such a tight budget, they’re not able to buy tracking equipment and software.

For one, the expense of the hardware, alone, might be out of reach for certain offices.

Then they would also need someone who is in charge of handling tracking information.

That information can be automated to a certain degree, but if a customer has questions, someone needs to be able to answer them and help them.

Some post offices may not have the budget to hire someone to take over that role.

Because of the high cost of tracking hardware, software, and employment, some post offices just don’t have the budget to provide tracking.

Can You Pick Up Mail Before It’s Delivered?

Yes, you can pick up mail before the USPS delivers it.

There are a few things you can do to ensure you’re able to pick up your mail before it gets delivered, too.

Here are a few ways you can pick up your mail before the USPS delivers it.

1. Hold Mail

One of the most effective ways to pick up your mail before it gets delivered is by putting a hold on it.

By holding your mail, you’re telling the USPS not to deliver it.

Instead, they’ll hold onto the mail for a certain amount of time before restarting deliveries.

People who go on vacation or have to be away from home for a certain amount of time tend to put a hold on their mail.

Once the date arrives in which deliveries continue, the USPS will then deliver all the mail that they held onto during that time.

If you want to pick up your mail before they can deliver it, you can also put a hold on your mail.

You can simply set the hold for one day.

Then you can drive to the post office and pick it up before the office closes.

Since the USPS doesn’t have mail left to deliver the next day, they’ll just deliver the mail that arrives at the post office that day for you.

Having the USPS hold your mail is a great way to ensure they don’t deliver to your home which allows you to pick up the mail instead.

2. Intercept Delivery

Another service you can use to pick up your mail from the USPS is Intercept a Package.

Getting the timing right with this service is crucial.

If you have them intercept your mail or package when it’s at a distribution facility or a sorting facility, you won’t be able to pick it up.

That’s because those facilities aren’t open to the public.

You can think of them as factories.

Instead, you need to have the USPS intercept your mail or package when it’s at another post office.

This then allows you to go to that post office and pick it up yourself.

You can also try to time it so that the intercept happens at your own post office, but there’s a chance that they might put it on a truck for delivery to your home before you submit it.

Timing an Intercept Package can be difficult since you don’t know where your mail or package is in the system.

That’s why it’s best to either do it shortly after the mail gets sent out to the USPS or just before you think it’s due to arrive.

When you place an Intercept Package mark on your mail or package, the USPS will grab it and hold onto it.

They usually want to have instructions on what you want to do after they intercept it.

You can tell them to hold it or deliver it to another address.

Intercept Package is another method you can use to pick up your package before it goes out for delivery.

3. Luck

Finally, you can pick up your mail from the post office through a bit of luck, too.

If you can estimate when your mail or package is going to arrive at your post office, you can show up early before the mail gets put on the trucks.

You can then ask the post office worker for your mail.

They can get it for you, and you’re able to get your hands on it before it’s on the truck for delivery.

You can make it a habit of showing up at the office early, too.

This might encourage the postal worker to set your mail to the side if they expect you to show up each day.

Then you can potentially always pick up your mail before it gets sent out for delivery.

Is Friday A Business Day For The USPS?

One reason you may wonder if the USPS is open on Black Friday is that you’re not sure if the USPS operates on Fridays at all.

Yes, Friday is a business day for the USPS.

The only day that they’re officially off, in regards to normal weekdays, is Sunday.

The USPS is open Monday-Saturday.

Because Black Friday isn’t an official holiday, and it’s on Friday, you can expect the USPS to deliver.

Can You Get Packages Delivered On Black Friday?

While the USPS is open and delivering mail on Black Friday, you may wonder if you can expect to get packages, too.

Yes, the USPS delivers packages on Black Friday.

If you ordered something and it didn’t arrive on Thanksgiving, you may wonder if it will arrive on Black Friday.

That all depends on if it made any progress on Thanksgiving.

For example, while the USPS isn’t open, there are some carriers that are still open on Thanksgiving.

If so, then they might have driven your package to the post office on Thanksgiving.

On Black Friday, the package might get sorted into the rest of the mail and head your way that same day.

However, if the carrier wasn’t operating on Thanksgiving, your package may still have a bit of distance to cross before it arrives at the post office.

As such, it might not arrive on Black Friday, but you might be able to get it the next day.

How To Get Packages Delivered On Black Friday From The USPS

Because the USPS operates on Black Friday, you don’t have to do anything different to get your package.

You can use Informed Delivery to see if you’re getting a package that day.

Otherwise, you can use standard shipping.

It will still arrive on Black Friday.

That said, if you want to make sure that the package arrives on Black Friday, you might want to choose Priority Express Mail when choosing your shipping method.

This ensures that the package arrives in one or two days.

If you bought the product on Thanksgiving or the day before, using Priority Express Mail will ensure that the package arrives on Black Friday, if not earlier.

Conclusion

The USPS operates on Black Friday because it isn’t a federal holiday.

You can tell if a package is arriving on Black Friday by opting into Informed Delivery on the USPS website.

Otherwise, you can hold your mail and pick it up yourself at your local post office on Black Friday if you want to get it before it’s sent for delivery to your home.