USPS Extends Ground Advantage, Priority Mail Delivery Times For Alaska, Hawaii & US Territories
USPS has changed service expectations for Priority Mail and Ground Advantage packages traveling to and from Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and other noncontiguous US locations, with some Ground Advantage shipments now expected to take 10 days or more.
The changes took effect October 1 and apply to Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, as well as the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands and Republic of Palau.
Ground Advantage packages traveling between the contiguous US and affected locations will now have an expected delivery time of 10 days or more, with USPS warning some routes may take significantly longer depending on distance.
Noncontiguous Ground Advantage packages under one pound previously traveled by a mix of air and surface transportation, while heavier Ground Advantage packages primarily traveled by surface. Going forward, these packages will primarily travel by surface regardless of weight.
The Postal Service says the shift is intended to better match service expectations with available transportation and reduce the risk of hazardous materials entering its air network. USPS also says using the same transportation approach regardless of weight will simplify operations and allow more focus on Priority Mail packages incorrectly identified as HAZMAT.
Priority Mail traveling to or from Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands will now have a 2-4 day service expectation, up from a previous maximum of three days. Packages to or from Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau will have a 2-6 day expectation, also up from the previous three-day cap.
Unlike the Ground Advantage change, USPS says Priority Mail transportation modes and timing are not expected to change. The longer windows are intended to bring published expectations in line with actual performance and transportation capabilities, including travel times and time zone considerations. Priority Mail Express is not affected.
Shipping platforms are already beginning to alert sellers to the changes, with Pirate Ship warning customers that affected Ground Advantage routes will have expected delivery times of 10 days or more and that packages under one pound will now primarily move by surface transportation.
USPS also published its recommended 2026 holiday shipping deadlines on September 22, just three days before the service expectation changes were announced.
Those recommendations currently still tell customers shipping to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and US territories to send Ground Advantage packages by December 16 for expected delivery before Christmas, compared to December 17 for the contiguous US. The same page lists December 18 for Priority Mail and December 19 for Priority Mail Express in those locations.
That December 16 Ground Advantage recommendation remains published as of October 3, even though USPS now says affected shipments will have service expectations of 10 days or more and some routes may take significantly longer.
USPS does caution that its holiday dates are recommendations rather than guarantees and advises customers to ship early. Sellers shipping to these destinations may want to pay particularly close attention to ZIP-to-ZIP estimates rather than relying solely on the published holiday cutoff dates.
The Postal Service directs customers to its Service Commitments tool for expected delivery dates based on origin and destination ZIP Codes.
USPS package prices are also increasing for the holidays, with temporary peak-season increases for Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, Ground Advantage and Parcel Select beginning October 4.
Liz Morton
That means sellers shipping Ground Advantage packages to noncontiguous states and territories could be facing both higher holiday postage costs and substantially longer published delivery expectations at the same time.
