Related Articles
Jason Cipriani/CNET
Procrastinators, listen closely. Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. If you’re ordering presents from a cross-country retailer, shipping deadlines play a big part in ensuring it’s delivered on time.
UPS and FedEx are reliable, until you really need something to be delivered on time and then it seems like the shipping gods take the day off the world falls apart. With a little advanced planning, you can rest easy at night knowing you did your best to eliminate any issues this Valentine’s Day.
Not all vendors look at this love-filled holiday in the same light as Christmas, so unfortunately not everyone has information readily available. We tried to do our best to represent various types of gifts from different vendors.
Overstock.com
Overstock offers three different shipping deadlines, but keep in mind your order will need to be placed by 11:59 a.m. ET to ensure timely delivery.
| Order Deadline | Shipping Method | |
|---|---|---|
| February 6 | Ground Shipping | |
| February 11 | 2-Day Air | |
| February 12 | Overnight | |
For more information, visit Overstock’s holiday shipping page.
Macy’s
The list below is for standard, in-stock merchandise. Note, jewelry and “beauty” merchandise has a different deadline of February 10 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
| Order Deadline | Shipping Method |
|---|---|
| February 8 11:59 PM ET | Standard |
| February 10 5:00 PM ET | Premium |
| February 11 5:00 PM ET | Express |
| February 14 3:00 PM Local | In-store pickup |
There’s a healthy amount of fine print on Macy’s shipping page, so be sure to read through it before placing an order.
Hallmark
The infamous card store also sells small trinkets, personalized books and various ornaments for each special occasion. The categories just named all have their own respective shipping deadlines.
Gifts & cards
| Deadline | Method |
|---|---|
| February 7 | Ship to store |
| February 7 | Ground |
| February 10 | 2-Day |
| February 11 | Overnight |
Personalized books
| Deadline | Method |
|---|---|
| February 4 | Ship to store |
| February 4 | Ground |
| February 8 | 2-Day |
| February 10 | Overnight |
Read more about Hallmark’s shipping deadlines here.
Georgetown Cupcakes
There’s not a specific deadline to get your order in with its Valentine’s Day assortments being available all month long, but should you want to have your special someone unbox these delicious cupcakes you should place your order sooner than later.
By default, all orders are sent overnight via FedEx.
Here’s a list of flavorfull assortments, along with price and shipping costs.
Whole Foods flowers
Whole Foods and Instacart have announced a partnership to deliver flowers on demand. The flower arrangements will be available February 9 through February 15 via either the Instacart website or mobile app. iOS users will be able to pay with Apple Pay, of course.
The floral arrangements start at $25. First-time Instacart users will be treated to free delivery, while returning users can opt for 2-hour delivery for $3.99 and 1-hour delivery for $5.99.
The promotion is limited to Atlanta; Austin; Boston; Boulder; Chicago; Denver; Houston; Los Angeles; New York; Philadelphia; Portland, OR; San Francisco; San Jose, CA; Seattle; and Washington, D.C.
UPS
With vendors like Amazon, Apple, Best Buy and the like not listing holiday shipping deadlines, you can use this UPS chart detailing deadlines for shipping products yourself to make an educated guess. Of course, there’s likely an extra day or so put into a retailer’s shipping estimate to account for procuring the items, shipping issues and other logistical scenarios.
Nonetheless, UPS shipping deadlines are below.
| Shipping On | Arrival | Suggested Method |
|---|---|---|
| February 13 | Early on Feb 14 | UPS Next Day Air- Early A.M. |
| February 13 | February 14 | UPS Next Day Air |
| February 12 | February 13 | UPS Next Day Air Saver |
| February 11 or 12 | Feb. 13 or 14 | UPS 2nd Day Air |
| February 10 | February 13 | UPS 3 Day Select |
| February 5-12 | February 13 | UPS Ground |
As always, there’s caveats with each method. As such, read through the entire shipping guide on the UPS site here.
