Important shipping deadlines you need to know

Christmas is approaching fast and that means time is running out to ship those holiday packages.

Today is the last day for ground shipments through the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx. The Post Office on Fort Caroline Road has already been busy with people flooding in to send off packages since it opened at 8:30 a.m.

Here are the key deadlines you need to know if you want your packages to make it under the Christmas tree in time:

United States Postal Service

• Retail ground service: Dec. 15
• First-class mail: Dec. 17
• Priority mail: Dec. 18
• Priority Mail Express: Dec. 23

FedEx

• Ground shipping: Dec. 15
• Freight Priority and Direct: Dec. 15
• Express shipping: Dec. 21
• FedEx Same Day: Dec. 24

UPS

• Normal pickup and delivery service: Dec. 20
• Last day to ship UPS 3-Day Select packages: Dec. 21
• Last day to ship UPS 2nd-Day Air packages: Dec. 22

The postal service delivered a record 13 billion letters, cards and packages last holiday season. It expects to ship somewhere between 850 and 950 million packages alone this year.