USPS 2020 Holidays for You to Take Note

A lot of us use the mail service on a daily basis. Either we are personal consumers or business, it is important to get our mails where we want in a timely fashion. But sometimes, in order to do this, we have to observe and be careful to avoid busy periods or periods when the post office is actually closed. These are the Federal Holidays and you have to keep in mind that during those Federal Holiday, USPS does not deliver mail and all the post offices are closed. In this article you will find out exactly when is USPS 2020 holidays.

What are Federal Holidays?

Federal Holidays in the United States are holidays that are authorized and that have been recognized by the United States government. What does this mean exactly? It means that on a US federal holiday, all non-essential government offices close and every single federal employee receives pay for that holiday. In the private sector, on a federal holiday, employees might receive holiday pay.

The Federal Holidays are designated by the United States Congress. Congress has the capability and authority to create these holidays, but they can only apply to federal institutions (including properties that are federally owned) and employees. Usually, a lot of other institutions also close on federal holidays. These include post offices, schools and banks.

Origin

The origin of the Federal holidays in the United States can be traced back to June 28, 1870. On that date, Congress created federal holidays. In their words: “to correspond with similar laws of States around the District and in every State of the Union.” At first, these holidays where only for federal employees working in the District of Columbia, but in 1885 Congress extended this coverage nationally, to all federal employees.

At that date, there were only four federal holidays:

• New Year’s Day
• Independence Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Christmas Day

More where added later on, with George Washington’s birthday becoming one in 1880, Decoration Day (in the present Memorial Day) in 1888 and Labor Day in 1894. Veterans Day was created at the end of World War I to mark its end, before being expanded to include World War II and the Korean War veterans in 1954.

The last federal holidays that were added were Columbus Day in 1968 and the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1983.

USPS 2020 Holidays list

In 2020, the Federal Holidays that coincide with USPS 2020 Holidays will fall on these respective dates:

• January 1, 2020 – New Year’s Day – Wednesday
• January 20, 2020 – Martin Luther King Day – Monday
• February 17, 2020 – Presidents’ Day – Monday
• May 25, 2020 – Memorial Day – Monday
• July 3, 2020 – Independence Day (observed) – Friday
• July 4, 2020 – Independence Day – Saturday
• September 7, 2020 – Labor Day – Monday
• October 12, 2020 – Columbus Day – Monday
• November 11, 2020 – Veterans Day – Wednesday
• November 26, 2020 – Thanksgiving Day – Thursday
• December 25, 2020 – Christmas Day – Friday

Importance

Federal Holidays have a lot of history behind them and they mark very important moments in the history of the United States. Instead of getting angry and annoyed that the Post Office and other federal agencies are not working, we should all be happy together and celebrate with family and friends. Also, if you are interested to know more about the history behind each of the federal holidays and how and why they were created, you can find all the information online. You just have to follow this link and you will be able to read and learn about every single one of the ten federal holidays that are currently being observed in the United States of America: https://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/Federal_Holidays.pdf

What does it mean for the USPS?

Basically on Federal Holidays, all services provided by the USPS come to a halt. Every post office is closed, nothing is delivered. You might be able to access self-service kiosks in certain locations but be sure to find out before where these are. So basically, all federal holidays is USPS 2020 holidays.

What can you do?

Basically, nothing about the holidays, you just have to accept that on that day you cannot use postal services. So plan accordingly, keep in mind the dates and just enjoy the celebrations knowing that the Post Offices will be up and running again as soon as the holidays are over.

Keep in mind

Also, a very important thing to keep in mind is that if a federal holiday falls on a weekend, it is usually observed on the closest weekday. For example, it a federal holiday happens to fall on a Saturday, it will be observed on the preceding Friday, while if the same federal holiday falls on a Sunday, it will be observed on the succeeding Monday. So also keep that in mind when you are planning your interactions with the Post Offices and you should have no problem working to deliver and receive mail and packages exactly when you need throughout the year.