UPS is fully closed for standard U.S. pickup and delivery on New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day in 2026. UPS also shows no pickup or delivery service on Easter and Mother’s Day, which matters because both fall on Sunday in 2026.
The easy mistake is assuming every federal holiday works the same way. It does not. UPS stays open on some federal holidays, runs limited pickup on Christmas Eve, and keeps UPS Express Critical available year-round for urgent freight. That is where people get tripped up.
| Date | Holiday | UPS status | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 1, 2026 | New Year’s Day | Closed | No standard UPS pickup or delivery service. |
| Jan. 19, 2026 | Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Closed | No standard UPS pickup or delivery service. |
| Apr. 3, 2026 | Good Friday | Open | Regular pickup and delivery services are available. |
| Apr. 5, 2026 | Easter | Closed | No standard UPS pickup or delivery service. |
| May 10, 2026 | Mother’s Day | Closed | No standard UPS pickup or delivery service. |
| May 25, 2026 | Memorial Day | Closed | No standard UPS pickup or delivery service. |
| June 19, 2026 | Juneteenth | Open | Regular pickup and delivery services are available. |
| July 3, 2026 | Independence Day observed | Open | UPS remains open even though many other carriers treat the observed date differently. |
| July 4, 2026 | Independence Day | Closed | No standard UPS pickup or delivery service. |
| Sept. 7, 2026 | Labor Day | Closed | No standard UPS pickup or delivery service. |
| Nov. 26, 2026 | Thanksgiving | Closed | No standard UPS pickup or delivery service. |
| Nov. 27, 2026 | Day after Thanksgiving | Open | Regular pickup and delivery services are available. |
| Dec. 24, 2026 | Christmas Eve | Modified | Pickup for Air and international Air only if prearranged by Dec. 18; delivery still runs for all services. |
| Dec. 25, 2026 | Christmas Day | Closed | No standard UPS pickup or delivery service. |
| Dec. 31, 2026 | New Year’s Eve | Modified | Delivery runs, but pickup rules can be limited by service and location. |
Which UPS holidays actually stop Ground and Air service?
The clearest answer is this: seven core U.S. holidays fully shut standard UPS pickup and delivery in 2026, and UPS also lists Easter and Mother’s Day as no-service dates. The UPS Holiday Schedule is the definitive reference for current closure dates. If you ship regularly, the days that matter most are New Year’s Day, MLK Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.
That is the operational list most shippers should build around. If your package is moving on one of those dates, expect the shipment to sit in the network and resume on the next UPS business day unless you are paying for a special service.
If your package already looks late around one of those windows, check our UPS tracking-not-updating guide before assuming the box is lost. Holiday pauses often look worse in tracking than they are in reality. If the scan also shows a specific problem event, the delivery exception explainer is the better companion page.
Which 2026 holidays stay open for UPS?
UPS remains open on several holidays people often assume are closures:
- Good Friday
- Juneteenth
- Independence Day observed on July 3
- Indigenous Peoples’ Day / Columbus Day
- Veterans Day
- Day after Thanksgiving
That is where older holiday articles get readers in trouble. They flatten all federal holidays into “probably closed,” which is not how UPS publishes the 2026 operating schedule.
What changes on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve?
Christmas Eve is not a normal business day, but it is not a full shutdown either.
UPS says that on December 24, 2026, pickup is available for Air and international Air services only, and only if it is prearranged by December 18, 2026. There is no UPS Ground pickup that day. Delivery still runs for all services.
That single detail matters more than most holiday pages admit. If you are relying on a last-minute Ground pickup on Christmas Eve, you are already too late. If you are shipping something urgent, you need to move earlier or switch service levels.
New Year’s Eve is also a modified operating day, not a normal one. Delivery is available, but pickup rules can tighten by service and location, so you should confirm with UPS before assuming you can hand off a package on your usual schedule.
What happens to packages already in transit during a UPS holiday?
Packages already in the network usually hold at a UPS facility and resume movement on the next UPS business day. That can affect all of these:
- the next scan event
- the expected delivery date
- pickup availability at some locations
- Access Point handoff timing
This is especially visible on UPS Ground and UPS Ground Saver, formerly SurePost, where scan gaps naturally feel longer even before a holiday interrupt hits.
If your shipment says Out for Delivery right before a closure, UPS’s support page says drivers can already deliver as late as 9 p.m., and sometimes later during peak periods. So a package that looks “late” on the evening before a holiday is not necessarily off track yet.
Which UPS services still run on closed holidays?
For normal consumers, the answer is simple: not many.
UPS continues to list UPS Express Critical as available 24/7/365, including holiday closures. That is the premium emergency lane, not the everyday shipping path. It is useful for medical, time-critical, or business-continuity shipments, but it is not a substitute for ordinary Ground or Air planning.
For everyone else, the practical rule is this: if your shipment is important enough that a one-business-day slip causes a real problem, plan around the holiday calendar before you ship. If your package is already showing a delay, the UPS Tracking Support page and the UPS Help and Support Center are the right escalation tools.
The 2026 holiday trap most people miss
The single easiest way to get burned is to focus only on delivery and ignore pickup.
The UPS 2026 schedule makes this explicit:
- Christmas Eve still has delivery
- Christmas Eve does not have normal Ground pickup
- some “open” holidays still behave differently by service
- The UPS Store hours can differ from UPS transportation operations
That last point matters. A local UPS Store may be open when the transport network is running on modified service. Open storefront does not automatically mean full pickup and delivery operations behind the scenes.
When this page is the wrong fit
This page is not the best first read if:
- you need the exact final ship date for a specific service and ZIP pair
- your issue is already a delayed shipment, not a future holiday plan
- you are dealing with an InfoNotice or Access Point pickup instead of a holiday closure
If the package is already stalled, use the main UPS tracking and support hub. If the shipment is waiting at an access point or you missed a delivery, UPS InfoNotice is the better page.
FAQ
Is UPS closed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2026?
Yes. UPS lists January 19, 2026 as a holiday with no standard UPS pickup or delivery service.
Does UPS work on Good Friday in 2026?
Yes. UPS lists Good Friday, April 3, 2026 as an open day with pickup and delivery services available.
Does UPS deliver on Juneteenth in 2026?
Yes. UPS lists June 19, 2026 as an operating day with pickup and delivery available.
Does UPS pick up Ground packages on Christmas Eve 2026?
No normal Ground pickup. UPS says Christmas Eve pickup is limited to Air and international Air services only, and those must be prearranged by December 18, 2026.
Is UPS Express Critical available on holidays?
Yes. UPS continues to list UPS Express Critical as available 24/7/365, including holiday closure dates.
If you are shipping near Christmas or New Year’s week, check the exact date instead of trusting a generic holiday list.
