--- title: "Holiday order cutoff dates: how to set them for shipping, delivery, and pickup" date: 2026-10-26 updated: 2026-11-11 canonical: "https://oneshopfront.com/blog/holiday-order-cutoff-dates-pickup-delivery-shipping" --- Shipping closes first, then local delivery, then pickup. Here are the 2026 carrier send-by dates and a simple way to set and share your own holiday cutoffs. Category: For shop owners Tags: pickup, local delivery, shipping, EasyPost, holiday, cutoff dates, Canada Post, USPS, lead time, countdown banner ![Holiday order cutoff dates: how to set them for shipping, delivery, and pickup](https://oneshopfront.com/storage/platform/posts/YBNQGNoW8wWxaRMYrAX82Z63ih44Rw2puHN06HNx.png) December orders don't stop on their own. If you don't pick a last order day, someone will ask for a dozen cookies on the morning of December 24, and someone else will expect a shipped gift to cross the country in two days. A cutoff date protects your time and your customers' plans. Here is how to set one for shipping, one for local delivery, and one for pickup, and how to tell customers. ## Why do you need more than one cutoff date? A shipped box depends on the carrier's holiday dates. A local delivery depends on how many runs you can make. A pickup depends on how much you can bake or pack before your last open day. So the order is almost always the same. Shipping closes first, then local delivery, then pickup. Your customers in town get the most time, and the people far away order earliest. ## What are the 2026 carrier dates? Carriers publish recommended send-by dates. These are the dates to have the parcel with the carrier, not the dates to stop taking orders. Leave yourself time to pack before them. Canada Post recommends these send-by dates for packages within Canada: - Regular Parcel: December 21 local, December 16 regional, and December 10 national. - Expedited Parcel or flat rate box: December 22 local, December 18 regional, and December 14 national. - Xpresspost: December 23 local, and December 22 regional and national. - Priority: December 23 for all three zones. From Canada to the US, Canada Post recommends December 11 for Tracked Packet and Small Packet, December 14 for Expedited Parcel USA, and December 17 for Xpresspost USA. Canada Post says its dates are between major cities and can change with the origin and destination. USPS recommends these send-by dates for delivery before December 25 within the lower 48 states: - USPS Ground Advantage and First-Class Mail: Thursday, December 17. - Priority Mail: Friday, December 18. - Priority Mail Express: Saturday, December 19. From the US to Canada, USPS recommends Wednesday, December 9 for First-Class Package International and Priority Mail International. On OneShopFront, you don't pick a carrier. Checkout gets Canada Post and USPS rates and uses the cheapest service, which is often a slower one. So plan around the earlier dates in each list, and check the carrier pages again in December, since dates can change. ## How do you pick your own dates? Work backward from the carrier date or your last open day. 1. For shipping, take the carrier's send-by date for the farthest place you ship to. Then subtract the days you need to bake, pack, and get to the post office. 2. For local delivery, pick your last delivery day. Then decide how much notice you need for each order, and which products need more. 3. For pickup, pick your last pickup day. Write the three dates down, then use the same dates everywhere you talk to customers. ## What does a three-cutoff plan look like? The shop below is a fictional example. It is not a OneShopFront customer, and the details are made up to show the setup. Picture a small cookie and preserves shop in a Nova Scotia town. It sells holiday cookie boxes to people in town, and cookie tins and jam that customers send to family across Canada. Last December, the owner baked until 2 AM on December 23. For this season, the owner plans the season on the shop's own checkout. First, the owner adds a "Holiday cookie box" product with two variants, a 12-cookie box and a 24-cookie box, each with its own price. The owner also adds a "Cookie tin to ship" product, and a "Decorated cookie platter" product for parties in town. Shipping is set for the whole shop, not per product, so any physical product can get Canada Post and USPS rates at checkout, based on its weight and size. Second, the owner picks three dates. The cheapest Canada Post service may be Regular Parcel, with a national date of December 10. So shipped orders close on Monday, December 7, and the owner keeps two days to bake and pack. The last parcels go out on Wednesday, December 9. Local delivery in town runs until Tuesday, December 22. Pickup runs until Wednesday, December 23. The owner also turns on the order-by countdown banner. It's an optional add-on, and it stays off until a shop turns it on. The owner sets it to December 7, so shoppers see how much time is left to order for shipping. After December 7, the owner sets it to the last order time for local delivery, and then to the last order time for pickup. When the countdown reaches zero, the banner either hides or shows an After message that the owner writes, for example "Our shipping cutoff has passed. You can still order for local delivery or pickup." The banner never blocks orders, so the owner still switches products off on each cutoff date, as the fifth step shows. Third, the owner sets [pickup](https://oneshopfront.com/pickup) with time slots and [local delivery](https://oneshopfront.com/local-delivery) with date and time slots, and turns on a few automatic rules for both. A daily order cutoff of 2 PM means an order placed after 2 PM can't choose the next day. A minimum lead time of one day gives the owner notice for every order. The decorated cookie platter takes longer, so the owner sets a lead time of two days on its Inventory tab. Customers see "Needs 2 days notice" on its page and in the cart. If a cart holds a cookie box and a platter, checkout offers only pickup or delivery dates that give the owner two days, and it says which item sets the earliest date. The rules don't add up. Checkout uses whichever rule is strictest. A product's lead time applies to pickup and local delivery only, so it doesn't change shipped orders, which follow the carrier dates above. The owner also lets customers choose a day up to 45 days ahead, so people can book a December 23 pickup in mid November. Fourth, the owner creates an early order coupon. Coupons can be dollar or percent off, and they can be limited by product or category, minimum spend, and dates. The owner's coupon takes a percent off cookie boxes, with a minimum spend, from November 16 to December 6. One coupon applies per cart. Fifth, the owner turns things off on each cutoff date. On December 7, the owner switches the "Cookie tin to ship" product off. If a customer still has it in their cart, the cart says the product is not available. Every holiday product page says "Order by December 7 to ship." If a shipped order still comes in late, the owner contacts the customer to offer pickup or a refund. To stop shipped orders for the rest of the season, the owner also asks OneShopFront support to turn off carrier shipping, and pickup and local delivery stay on. After the last pickup day, the owner switches the holiday cookie box off. Setting a product's stock to 0 works too. The owner also closes the days the shop is shut over the holidays. A date limit of 0 on a time slot closes that one slot on that date, for both pickup and local delivery, while other slots that day stay open. To close a whole day, the owner sets 0 on every slot that day. Shipped parcels are not affected. Sixth, the owner handles each order as it comes in. Customers who pay by Interac e-Transfer upload proof of their payment at checkout, and the order waits until the owner checks it and confirms it. When a pickup order is packed, the owner marks it ready for pickup, and the customer gets an email with the pickup place, time window, and store hours. On December 23, the last pickup bags sit on a shelf with names on them. Nobody is baking at 2 AM. ## How do you tell customers about your cutoffs? - Put the dates near the top of every holiday product page, for example "Order by December 7 to ship. The last pickup day is December 23." - Write a short blog post on your storefront with all three dates and link to it from your social posts. - Turn on the order-by countdown banner and set it to your next cutoff. When that cutoff passes, set it to the next one. The banner only shows the time left and doesn't stop orders, so keep switching products off on each cutoff date. - Post a reminder two days before each cutoff. - Put a sign at the counter, and decide ahead what you will say to late requests. If you take tray or catering orders too, our post on [taking December holiday tray orders](https://oneshopfront.com/blog/holiday-catering-trays-own-checkout) covers cut-offs for larger orders. If your customers live in town, on acreages, and far away, our [post on delivery areas, pickup, and shipping](https://oneshopfront.com/blog/okotoks-delivery-area-pickup-shipping) shows how to split them into groups. If you plan a sale on November 28, see our [Small Business Saturday ideas](https://oneshopfront.com/blog/small-business-saturday-ideas-pickup-coupon). ## Where does OneShopFront fit? OneShopFront gives a small shop in Canada or the US these tools for the holiday season: - Your own checkout on your own storefront - [Pickup](https://oneshopfront.com/pickup), with time slots if you use them, and a "ready for pickup" email to the customer - An order confirmation email with the items, totals, and pickup or delivery details - [Local delivery](https://oneshopfront.com/local-delivery) with a date for the customer, and a time slot if you use them - A daily order cutoff and a minimum lead time for pickup and local delivery - A lead time for each product, so customers can only pick pickup or local delivery dates that give you enough notice - An optional order-by countdown banner that you can turn on and set to your next cutoff. It shows the time left and never blocks orders. - Shipping outside your local area through EasyPost, with Canada Post and USPS rates based on each product's weight and size - Product variants, each with its own price, and coupons with set dates - Card payments through Stripe or Helcim, or Interac e-Transfer (Canada only, not a card payment), where the buyer uploads proof of payment and you confirm it - A blog on your storefront for your holiday dates Starter is $20 CAD a month, and Growth is $50 CAD a month. A platform fee, currently 1% per sale, applies to the merchandise subtotal after discounts, plus your payment processor's fee. For Stripe and Helcim payments, the platform fee is taken at checkout. For Interac e-Transfer orders, it is added to your monthly invoice. Signing up is free with no card. When you pick a plan, you add a card to start a 7-day free trial, and you aren't charged until it ends. ## What can you do this week? 1. Look up the 2026 Canada Post and USPS holiday dates and pick your shipping cutoff. 2. Pick your last delivery day and your last pickup day. 3. Mark which products need more notice than the rest. 4. Set your daily cutoff and lead time ahead of the rush. Then, on your last day, switch holiday products off or set their stock to 0. 5. Add the three dates to every holiday product page, and turn on the countdown banner for your first cutoff. 6. To set up a storefront for the holidays, [register for OneShopFront](https://oneshopfront.com/register). No card needed to sign up. Sources: Canada Post, "Plan your holiday sending" (October 2026 dates) and USPS, "2026 Holiday Shipping Deadlines". All checked October 26, 2026.