USPS follows one nationwide rule for hours. Post offices run six days a week and close on Sundays. Eleven fixed federal holidays are the only annual exceptions, and checking those two things answers is USPS open today at a glance.
Post offices are not federal buildings that close by blanket decree. They are USPS retail locations. Hours sit within a national framework but get adjusted branch by branch, which is why two nearby branches can post different Saturday hours under the same holiday list.
Is USPS open today?
Start with the day of the week. USPS retail counters are open Monday through Saturday almost everywhere. They are closed on Sunday almost everywhere.
The one thing that overrides both is the federal holiday table further down this page. If today is not a Sunday and not on that table, USPS is open today. A specific branch could still be closed for a local reason, such as staffing or weather.
The only way to confirm a single address is the official locator. It lists retail hours, lobby hours, and self service kiosk hours for that exact branch. Published hours change more often than most customers expect, so it is worth a bookmark.
Use the official location locator when the trip is worth planning around. A quick search catches a branch that closed early for an unrelated reason, and it takes far less time than the drive itself.
Regular post office hours, day by day
Weekday hours are the most consistent part of the system. Most retail counters open between 8 AM and 9 AM. Most close between 5 PM and 5:30 PM, Monday through Friday.
A handful of branches pause for a short lunch closure. That gap is rare, but it does happen at smaller offices. Saturday is where the real difference shows up.
| Day | Typical retail hours | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Monday to Friday | 8 AM to 5 PM, or 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM | Exact open and close time is set by each branch |
| Saturday | 9 AM to 12 PM, sometimes to 1 or 2 PM | Many rural branches close earlier, or skip Saturday hours |
| Sunday | Closed | A few high volume urban stations are reported to keep limited hours, unconfirmed by an official list |
Treat those ranges as a starting point, not a promise. A downtown station in a large city often keeps longer hours than a small town branch. Branch size and staffing shift both ends of the window.
For the exact weekday closing time, see what time the counter actually closes. For the full Saturday breakdown, see is USPS open on Saturday.
Sunday is the simplest rule on this list, and almost no branch breaks it. The full picture, including which services still move that day, is in the Sunday post office rules.
The full 2026 USPS holiday schedule
USPS observes 11 federal holidays in 2026. Every post office is closed on each of these dates. Regular mail delivery is suspended, and only Priority Mail Express keeps moving under its money back guarantee.
| Holiday | 2026 date | Day | Post office status |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | January 1 | Thursday | Closed |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | January 19 | Monday | Closed |
| Presidents Day | February 16 | Monday | Closed |
| Memorial Day | May 25 | Monday | Closed |
| Juneteenth | June 19 | Friday | Closed |
| Independence Day | July 4 | Saturday | Closed (open as usual on Friday, July 3) |
| Labor Day | September 7 | Monday | Closed |
| Columbus Day | October 12 | Monday | Closed |
| Veterans Day | November 11 | Wednesday | Closed |
| Thanksgiving Day | November 26 | Thursday | Closed |
| Christmas Day | December 25 | Friday | Closed |
Independence Day is the one date worth reading twice. It falls on Saturday, July 4 in 2026. USPS closes on that Saturday itself, rather than shifting the closure to Friday.
Post offices stay open and deliver as normal on Friday, July 3. They then close for the holiday on Saturday, July 4, and reopen Monday, July 6. That is the opposite order some readers expect.
Many shipping guides still describe Independence Day as observed the Friday before. That rule fits offices already closed on weekends. USPS retail counters are normally open on Saturdays, so closing the actual Saturday is what removes a working day from the schedule.
This is exactly why it pays to answer is USPS open today from the table above, not from a general rule of thumb. Every date on this list came from USPS’s own 2026 holiday list on the official newsroom site. Check that page again close to a deadline, since it is the fastest way USPS shares a late change.
One naming quirk is worth a mention. The holiday in February is still named Washington’s Birthday in federal law, and has been since it was created. USPS calls it Presidents Day in its own newsroom releases, which is the name almost everyone actually uses, so this guide does the same.
Is USPS open tomorrow?
The same two checks that answer is USPS open today work for tomorrow, too. Look at tomorrow’s day of the week. Then check it against the 11 dates in the table above.
If tomorrow is a Sunday or a listed holiday, plan around a closed counter. This matters most around long weekends. A Monday holiday turns a normal Sunday closure into a two day gap.
Shippers who need a date confirmed months out, not just tomorrow, have a faster option. Run any date through our postal holiday and delivery day lookup instead of counting weeks on a calendar.
What still works when the post office is closed
A closed retail counter does not mean nothing moves. Several channels stay available on Sundays and holidays. Knowing them saves a wasted trip on the exact days people worry about most.
- Self service kiosks in many lobbies print postage, sell stamps, and accept prepaid packages. A good number run 24 hours a day.
- usps.com stays fully open for ordering stamps, requesting free boxes, scheduling a pickup, and printing a Click N Ship label.
- PO Box access through the outer lobby often continues even when the retail window is dark.
- Priority Mail Express keeps delivering on Sundays and most holidays. Amazon packages usually move on Sunday as well.
The full rules on which packages still arrive on a Sunday, and which do not, are in what still gets delivered on Sunday. If you just need postage and cannot reach an open counter, buying stamps without visiting the counter covers every option, including grocery stores and usps.com.
The bottom line
USPS is open today if today is Monday through Saturday and not one of the 11 dates in the 2026 holiday table above. Sunday is closed almost everywhere. A specific branch can always vary on top of that.
When the date matters for a deadline, confirm it against the official holiday list and your branch’s own posted hours. That combination beats guessing every time.