Have you seen a United Parcel Service delivery truck making the rounds on a Sunday and wondered whether that meant that UPS suddenly expanded its operation to seven days a week? And does this mean other delivery services are going to try to compete by also offering Sunday deliveries?

Here comes a rundown on who delivers what on which weekend days and how much it costs — starting with an answer to the first question above.

Who Delivers on the Weekend?

UPS delivers six days a week to the general population, and on Sundays the company only delivers for  Amazon Prime. Only products that have the Amazon Prime logo next to their price listings on the website qualify.

Membership in Prime now costs $99 annually and Sunday deliveries are included as part of the service’s free two-day delivery. That timing is based on when the seller ships your order, so to get a Sunday delivery, you’d have to purchase the product before the end of the day on Friday.

UPS has one other option for Sunday deliveries: UPS Express Critical, which is actually available 365 days a year. The company puts your shipment on the earliest possible flight and charges you top dollar for it.

UPS Saturdays

Otherwise, UPS provides Saturday deliveries across all of the company’s different services, which the company lists as follows:

• UPS Worldwide Express
• UPS Next Day Air
• UPS Next Day Air Early
• UPS 2nd Day Air 
• UPS Ground
• UPS 3-Day Select

With all the aforementioned delivery options, you need to specifically select Saturday delivery or a package might arrive the following Monday instead.

UPS’ Saturday services also include pickup, but you have to request it special. UPS Saturday deliveries cost extra in some cities but not all. UPS drop boxes aren’t picked up on weekends.

Generally speaking, other mail carriers and delivery services tend to have similar schedules to UPS — six days a week, but not all of them charge extra for Saturday. Here’s how the major players differ from one another on the weekends.

U.S. Postal Service

The U.S. Postal Service doesn’t deliver on Sundays but does make the rounds on Saturdays — and doesn’t charge extra for it.

Fedex

Fedex delivers on Saturdays to 90% of locations, for a higher price than what it costs on weekdays. The specific services available that day are FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight and FedEx 2Day. There’s no Sunday service of any kind, however.

DHL

The company delivers on Saturdays but you have to specifically request it and pay extra for the service — and it’s more expensive than any of its competitors. There’s no Sunday deliveries.

Who Else Delivers on the Weekends?

Local Courier Services

Most courier services offer weekend deliveries, and whether the prices differ from weekdays varies by carrier.

Instacart

This combined mobile app and delivery company operates every day of the year, and usually doesn’t charge extra for weekend deliveries.

However, some of the participating retailers require minimum purchase amounts for the delivery to be covered by the monthly membership fee for Instacart or you get a $9.99 fee tacked on to your order.

Additionally, theree’s an optional service fee charge of about $3.99 but you can waive it manually — but realize that then you’re taking money away from the employees.

Caviar, Waiters on Wheels, GrubHub and Eat24

These companies that provide the restaurant version of the above all deliver on weekends for the same rate that they charge on weekdays.

Keep in mind, however, that wait times might become longer on the weekend when most of these services become most popular.

Local Restaurants

Similarly, most local restaurants that offer their own deliveries do very brisk business on the weekends — so you may have to wait longer. For similar reasons, they might also cut off well before the end of their operating hours.

Nonetheless, as consumers become more accustomed to an deliveries of ever-wider assortment of products and services — and the ability to receive them faster and for more extended days and hours, it’s likely that more companies might jump into the fray and offer weekend deliveries including Sundays.

Readers, what kind of things do you get delivered on the weekend? Which companies have given you the best service on the weekends?

Read More About Deliveries

If you liked this article, you might enjoy the abundance of other stories about deliveries that appear in our archives:

• Consumers Want Faster Free Deliveries
• 13 Meal Kits and Subscription Services Discounts Compared
• Walmart Meal Subscriptions Debut with Big Menu
• 2018 Post Office Holidays and Schedule
• Amazon Prime Delivery Time and Its Impact on Local Businesses
• Aldi Delivery and Online Ordering
• Uber Begins On-Demand Delivery Service Test with Corner Store
• Is the Post Office Open Today?

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