UPS is closed for pickup and delivery on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, and its 2026 holiday schedule also lists MLK Day as closed. That is the full answer to what holidays is UPS closed in 2026. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are modified days, and every other federal holiday is a normal UPS day.
The list differs from the USPS list, so a federal holiday does not always mean a quiet UPS truck. Dates below come from the UPS holiday schedule for 2026 and 2027 and the 2026 UPS Terms of Service. You can also run any date through the Postal Holiday Checker.
UPS holiday closures in 2026
UPS lists these dates as closed. No regular pickups or deliveries run, and The UPS Store locations may be closed or on limited hours.
| Holiday | 2026 date | UPS status |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Thursday, Jan 1 | Closed |
| MLK Day | Monday, Jan 19 | Closed |
| Easter Sunday | Sunday, Apr 5 | Closed |
| Mother’s Day | Sunday, May 10 | Closed |
| Memorial Day | Monday, May 25 | Closed |
| Independence Day | Saturday, Jul 4 | Closed |
| Labor Day | Monday, Sep 7 | Closed |
| Thanksgiving | Thursday, Nov 26 | Closed |
| Christmas Day | Friday, Dec 25 | Closed |
Easter Sunday and Mother’s Day fall on Sundays, when UPS does not run regular delivery anyway. UPS Express Critical, a time critical service provided by Marken, stays available every day of the year, including all closure dates.
Which holidays count as UPS business days
The 2026 UPS Terms of Service define a business day as Monday through Friday, except seven named days. Those are New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. The tariff does not name MLK Day, although the holiday schedule shows it as closed for 2026.
Business days matter for transit time. A Ground package that is due in 3 business days takes longer when a listed holiday falls inside that window.
Modified service days
Two days are neither closed nor normal. UPS calls them modified service, which means deliveries mostly run while pickups are limited.
| Date | Deliveries | Pickups |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec 24, 2026 | All delivery services operate normally | Air and international Air only if prearranged by Dec 18; no Ground pickups |
| New Year’s Eve, Thursday, Dec 31, 2026 | Air and international Air deliver; Ground deliveries suspended | Air and international Air only if prearranged by Dec 28; no Ground pickups |
The tariff calls New Year’s Eve a non business day, while the holiday page shows Air deliveries running. Treat it as a day with no Ground delivery and limited Air service. See the guide on UPS delivery on Christmas Eve.
Does UPS work on holidays that close the post office?
Often yes. Many people asking what holidays is UPS closed expect the same list as USPS, but the UPS list is shorter. USPS closes on every federal holiday, while the 2026 UPS schedule lists these federal and seasonal dates as open for all services.
| Holiday | 2026 date | UPS status |
|---|---|---|
| Presidents Day | Monday, Feb 16 | Open |
| Juneteenth | Friday, Jun 19 | Open |
| Independence Day (observed) | Friday, Jul 3 | Open for domestic and international; Air Freight closed |
| Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Columbus Day) | Monday, Oct 12 | Open |
| Veterans Day | Wednesday, Nov 11 | Open |
| Day after Thanksgiving | Friday, Nov 27 | Open, standard operations resume |
UPS also lists Valentine’s Day (Feb 14) and Good Friday (Apr 3) as open. MLK Day is the one federal holiday that looks like a typical UPS day but is not.
What holidays is UPS closed in 2027?
UPS has published only one 2027 date so far. New Year’s Day, Friday, Jan 1, 2027, has no UPS pickup or delivery. The carrier has not published 2027 status for Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving or Christmas yet.
Federal holiday dates for 2027 are already set, and they show where the likely closures fall. These are federal dates, not UPS confirmations.
| Holiday | 2027 federal date |
|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Friday, Jan 1 (UPS confirmed closed) |
| Memorial Day | Monday, May 31 |
| Independence Day (observed) | Monday, Jul 5 |
| Labor Day | Monday, Sep 6 |
| Thanksgiving | Thursday, Nov 25 |
| Christmas (observed) | Friday, Dec 24 |
Christmas Day 2027 lands on a Saturday, so the federal observance moves to Friday, Dec 24. Do not plan around that shift until UPS posts its own 2027 schedule. Check the UPS holiday schedule before you ship near any of these dates.
Does UPS deliver on holidays when it is open?
Yes. On an open day UPS runs pickup and delivery as usual, and the usual weekend limits still apply. See UPS weekend delivery for the regular weekly schedule.
Open does not mean guaranteed. The UPS money back guarantee in 2026 covers only Next Day Air Early, Next Day Air, Next Day Air Saver and 2nd Day Air A.M., so a Ground package that slips a day around a holiday has no refund attached.
UPS and USPS closures side by side
| Federal holiday | USPS | UPS in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| MLK Day, Jan 19 | Closed | Closed |
| Presidents Day, Feb 16 | Closed | Open |
| Juneteenth, Jun 19 | Closed | Open |
| Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Oct 12 | Closed | Open |
| Veterans Day, Nov 11 | Closed | Open |
The USPS column reflects the federal holiday calendar from OPM, which USPS follows for its own closures. Use the UPS column only for UPS, because a store, an Access Point or a local center may set different hours.
The UPS Store hours are not delivery hours
The UPS Store is a separate retail location, and many are franchises that set their own hours. The holiday page says stores may be closed on Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Independence Day and New Year’s Day, and shows them open on Black Friday and Christmas Eve. An open store does not mean drivers are delivering, so call your local store before a drop off.
Memorial Day is a typical case. Drivers stay off the road, yet some stores may still post hours. Ask the store whether it will accept packages that day and when they will actually move.
Holidays that fall on a weekend
Weekend holidays confuse many shippers. Independence Day 2026 is a Saturday, so UPS lists Jul 4 as closed and Friday, Jul 3 as open for domestic and international service. Christmas Day 2027 is a Saturday, but UPS has not published its 2027 status, so do not assume a Friday closure.
Check the carrier page for each year instead of copying last year’s pattern. Observed dates can move, and UPS sets its own rules apart from the federal calendar.
How to plan around a UPS holiday
- Find the date in the tables above and note whether it is closed, modified or open.
- Count business days by skipping weekends and the seven tariff holidays.
- For modified days, book Air or international Air pickups before the cutoff dates, Dec 18 for Christmas Eve and Dec 28 for New Year’s Eve.
- Check your tracking page the day before. A delivery due on a closed day moves to the next business day.
- If the package is urgent, look at UPS Express Critical, which runs every day of the year.
Related holiday questions have their own pages.
- See UPS on the 4th of July for the Saturday holiday and the Friday Jul 3 observance.
- Read UPS on Christmas for the closure and what happens to packages.
- Check New Year’s Day delivery for the January 2027 schedule.
- Compare carriers with FedEx holiday delivery.
Worked examples with real dates
Say you ship a Ground package on Wednesday, Nov 25, 2026, with a 2 business day estimate. Thursday, Nov 26 is Thanksgiving, and UPS does not deliver. Friday, Nov 27 counts as the first business day and Monday, Nov 30 as the second, so plan on Monday rather than the Friday you might expect.
Now say a package is due on Monday, Oct 12, 2026. That is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a federal holiday, but UPS lists it as open. Expect the normal delivery attempt even though your mail carrier will not come.
A third case is a Thursday, Dec 31, 2026 delivery. If the package moves by UPS Ground, it should not arrive that day because Ground deliveries are suspended. An Air service package can still arrive, so the shipping service matters as much as the date.
UPS On-Call Pickup can also cover pickups on these two days, according to the UPS 2026 holiday operations schedule. Shippers with a daily pickup should confirm their arrangement with UPS before the cutoff. Ground pickups do not run on either day.
Why a holiday can still delay an open day
Closed days upstream cause backlogs on the next open day. A Monday holiday like Memorial Day or Labor Day pushes extra volume into Tuesday. Even when UPS is open on a federal holiday, your delivery estimate can be held by the closed days that come before or after it.
The same effect shows up near MLK Day. UPS is closed on that Monday in 2026, so Friday shipments that would normally arrive Monday arrive Tuesday at the earliest. Knowing what holidays is UPS closed on helps you read an estimate, but the tracking page has the final date.
Bottom line on UPS holiday closures
UPS shuts down on six fixed holidays and also on MLK Day in 2026, and it runs limited service on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Presidents Day, Juneteenth, Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Veterans Day are open days even though the post office is closed. For 2027, only New Year’s Day is confirmed so far.
