Holiday Shipping Deadlines (Order By When for Christmas Delivery)
If you're reading this in late November or early December, you're probably trying to figure out whether ordering from us today gets the package to your door — or your recipient's door — by Christmas.
This post is the version of that answer we wish lived somewhere obvious. It's the calendar, the by-region order-by dates, the cutoffs we use ourselves when we order gifts for our families, and what happens if you order after the cutoff.
If you want the longer story about how we run shipping during December (and why we close the roastery Dec 23-26), our post about the roastery closure goes into the operational detail. This one is just the dates.
The headline dates
These are the dates we tell our own families to use. We've added a buffer on top of USPS's published Priority Mail estimates because December volume adds a day or two that isn't there in October.
Lower 48 domestic (USPS Priority Mail): Order by 5 PM Pacific on Sunday, December 14 to give yourself the best shot at delivery before Christmas Eve. The "safe" cutoff (with extra buffer) is 5 PM Pacific on Friday, December 12.
Alaska and Hawaii: Order by 5 PM Pacific on Saturday, December 7. USPS Priority Mail to these states takes 4-7 days in November and December. We've shipped orders as late as December 10 and had them arrive by Christmas, but we wouldn't bet on it.
APO, FPO, DPO addresses: Order by 5 PM Pacific on Sunday, December 1. Military mail passes through additional handling that adds 5-10 days on top of standard Priority Mail.
Puerto Rico and US territories: Order by 5 PM Pacific on Saturday, December 7. USPS Priority Mail to PR is usually 4-6 days in December. We've had orders take 8 days.
Canada: We don't currently ship outside the US. If we add Canada in 2027, we'll update this post.
These dates are conservative on purpose. The cost of being late is a Christmas without coffee, and the cost of being early is an extra week of waiting. Early is better.
Why we're tighter than USPS's published estimates
USPS Priority Mail in December usually takes 2-3 business days for the lower 48. USPS's published December estimate is "allow 4-5 days for delivery." We use a different number.
Three reasons:
Reason 1: Sorting facilities are at peak load. The week before Christmas, every sorting facility in the USPS network is processing 2-3x normal volume. Parcels sit in carts waiting for the next truck. Most arrive on time, but more get held an extra day than in October.
Reason 2: Regional weather. Depending on where you are, December weather can close roads or delay flights. A package going from Portland to Boston has to ride through sorting facilities in Chicago, Memphis, or both. Ice storms in any of those cities add a day.
Reason 3: Carriers running short-staffed. USPS runs seasonal hiring every December. The carriers who show up are usually fine, but the routes are sometimes unfamiliar. We've had packages that should have gone out Tuesday go out Wednesday because the regular carrier was on a different route that week.
We bake an extra 2-3 days into the dates above to absorb all three.
The roast and ship cadence
This matters for one specific question: "If I order on December 14, will my coffee actually ship that day?"
We roast on Wednesday. We ship on Thursday. If you order on a Wednesday, we ship your coffee the next day (Thursday). If you order on a Thursday, we ship it the following Thursday.
Between December 14 and December 22, there are two roast days: Wednesday, December 17 and Wednesday, December 22. Orders placed by 9 AM Pacific on December 17 ship December 18. Orders placed by 9 AM Pacific on December 22 ship December 23. After that, we're closed Dec 23-26.
So the December 14 deadline for Christmas delivery is really asking: "Will my order land on a roast day that gives it enough time to travel?" If you order December 14 (a Sunday), we ship December 18 (Thursday), and USPS has 7 calendar days to get it there. That works for most of the lower 48. For Alaska or Hawaii, the December 14 date doesn't give USPS enough time.
The roast cadence is the why behind the calendar. If you skip a Wednesday, you add 7 days to your delivery.
Last-minute ordering (and why we say no)
A common question: "Can I order December 22 and pay for faster shipping?"
We don't offer faster shipping. Every order goes USPS Priority Mail. There's no overnight option, no two-day option, no signature-required upgrade.
There are two reasons we don't:
Reason 1: We don't control the shipper. USPS Priority Mail is what we buy. We could in theory pass on a FedEx or UPS rate to customers, but the operational complexity (different pickup schedules, different labels, different tracking integration) isn't worth the savings for one customer per month who needs same-week delivery.
Reason 2: Promising faster shipping in December would be dishonest. If we offered "2-day shipping" during December, we'd be relying on USPS Priority Mail to hit 2 days during the peak volume period. They usually don't. We'd be promising what we know we can't guarantee.
If you need coffee faster than our standard turnaround, your best options in late December are:
- Order early (before December 14) and have it held at a local post office for pickup.
- Order early and have it shipped to your workplace, where someone will be there to receive it.
- Find a local specialty roaster who can fulfill same-day. Most US cities have at least one within driving distance.
We're not the right answer for last-minute orders after December 18. We're honest about that.
Gift cards and digital products
If you order a gift card, it sends immediately via email — there's no shipping cutoff for digital products. Same for any non-physical item in our catalog.
Gift cards are a clean late option for someone who knows their recipient well enough to pick the coffee for them. We've sold gift cards as late as December 23 and had the recipient get the email the same minute. The card can then be redeemed whenever the recipient wants to choose what they get.
If you order a gift card on December 23 for a recipient who lives in Alaska, the card arrives instantly. They can then order from us on December 26 when we're back open, and the coffee ships December 30.
That's the work-around for last-minute gifting.
Subscriptions during the closure
We don't currently run subscriptions. If we add them in 2027, here's how we'd handle December: subscription orders placed between December 22 and December 29 would queue and ship on December 30 with the rest of the week's orders. The customer wouldn't be charged for the gap week.
If you're reading this and we now do run subscriptions, the same logic applies — December pauses are the default and you don't lose billing weeks.
For more on why we held off on subscriptions in 2026 (and what changed our mind, eventually), our Why We Don't Do Subscriptions Yet post covers the operational reason.
What about returns and refunds?
If you order during December and the gift arrives damaged, stale, or wrong, we handle it like any other month. Email us, we look at the lot code on the bag, and we either send a replacement or refund the order.
During the closure (December 23-29), we don't respond to email. We respond in the order received when we reopen. If the issue is urgent (your gift arrived spoiled and the recipient needs coffee before Christmas), email us before December 22 with as much detail as you can and we'll do our best to resolve before the closure.
If your issue is more mundane (you ordered the wrong grind, you accidentally ordered two of the same thing), wait until December 29 and we'll fix it.
The "wait, did I order in time?" checklist
If you're reading this on December 18 and you just ordered from us, here's how to tell whether your order will arrive before Christmas.
- Find your order confirmation email. It has the order date and the shipping address.
- Count the days. If you ordered on December 14 (Sunday) and your address is in the lower 48, you have 7-10 days until Christmas. USPS Priority Mail is usually 2-3 days during the rest of the year, 3-5 days during the holiday peak. So your order probably arrives.
- If you're in Alaska, Hawaii, or a military address and you ordered after December 7, your coffee probably arrives after Christmas. We can refund or hold the order for January delivery — just email us.
- If you ordered during the closure (December 23-29), your order roasts December 29 and ships December 30. It arrives around January 2-5. Plan accordingly.
If you're not sure, email us. We read every email and can usually tell you within a few hours where your order stands.
What we'd change about December shipping
A few things we're working on for 2027 (and beyond).
Customs-ready labels for Canada. If you read this in 2027 and we now ship to Canada, hello — we're working on it. The customs forms and the additional duty calculations are the slow part.
Better tracking visibility. USPS tracking sometimes drops updates for 1-2 days during peak volume. We can't fix USPS, but we're considering a system that pings you when tracking goes silent for more than 48 hours, so you know to email us before delivery fails.
Gift messages on the box. Currently, the only way to include a gift message is to email us after ordering. We're working on a checkout option for a short note printed on the packing slip. ETA: 2027 if we can build it without breaking the small-shop feel.
For more on the operational side of December shipping, our post on closing the roastery covers what happens to orders during the closure in detail.
What to do today
If you read this far and you have orders to place:
- Lower 48, before December 14: Order this week. You're in good shape.
- Lower 48, between December 14 and December 18: Order today. There's a window, but it's closing.
- Lower 48, after December 18: Email us. We'll see what we can do.
- Alaska, Hawaii, military addresses: Sorry, the window is already tight. Email us and we'll figure out the next steps.
- Canada: Not yet. We promise we're working on it.
If you're ordering for yourself, the catalog has everything we stock. If you're ordering for someone else, our Coffee Lover's Gift Guide and Tea Drinker's Gift Guide walk through what to consider.
The single most important date in this post is December 14. That's the safe-by date for lower 48 delivery before Christmas. Earlier is better. Later is risky.
Brew slow. Sip slow. 🎁
P.S. If you're reading this in 2027 or later and the dates look stale, we're probably updating this post in November each year. The underlying math (USPS Priority Mail + USPS holiday surge + our Wednesday roast cadence) doesn't change year to year, so the dates will be similar. The only thing that usually shifts by a day or two is when Christmas falls on the calendar.