COVID-19

Posted by Administrative Staff on 24th Apr 2020

COVID-19: updated April 24, 2020

  • We are processing and shipping orders without delay.
  • Please use email or chat support to avoid phone wait times.
  • USPS and FedEx have increased shipping times.* Please see below.
  • Restricted countries: We will not accept orders with a shipping address to countries that have suspended normal mail service. These orders will be canceled and refunded.  See list below.

* USPS Domestic Shipping Updates

Effective April 17, 2020 The Postal Service’s flagship Priority Mail Express service, which guarantees overnight service, will not change.

Service commitments for local 1-day Priority Mail will not change.

Priority Mail’s two and three day service commitments now will be extended to three and four days respectively. Customers will continue to receive end-to-end visibility and improved product tracking, as well as up to $50 in free insurance.

With the extra day extension, customers should expect delivery using Priority Mail Open and Distribute (PMOD) to range from two to four days nationwide.

First-Class Package Service (FCPS) two and three day service commitments will also be extended to three and four days respectively.

International Shipping Updates

The Postal Service is currently unable to accept items destined for the below affected countries at any Post Office® or postal facility location until further notice.

Customers are asked to refrain from entering items addressed to any of the below countries into the USPS system. The below list of destinations are suspended as of April 14, 2020:

  1. Angola
  2. Bangladesh
  3. Benin
  4. Bermuda
  5. Bhutan
  6. Bolivia
  7. Bosnia and Herzegovina
  8. Botswana
  9. Burundi
  10. Cameroon
  11. Cape Verde
  12. Cayman Islands
  13. Chad
  14. Cook Islands
  15. Costa Rica
  16. Cuba
  17. Curacao
  18. Democratic Republic of the Congo
  19. Ecuador
  20. Equatorial Guinea
  21. Eritrea
  22. Fiji
  23. French Polynesia
  24. Gambia
  25. Guatemala
  26. Guinea
  27. Guinea Bissau
  28. Guyana
  29. Honduras
  30. India
  31. Kenya
  32. Kiribati
  33. Kuwait
  34. Kyrgyzstan
  35. Laos
  36. Lebanon
  37. Lesotho
  38. Liberia
  39. Libya
  40. Madagascar
  41. Malawi
  42. Maldives
  43. Mauritius
  44. Moldova
  45. Mongolia
  46. Mozambique
  47. Nepal
  48. Netherlands Antilles
  49. New Guinea
  50. New Caledonia
  51. Norfolk Island
  52. Oman
  53. Panama
  54. Papua New Guinea
  55. Paraguay
  56. Peru
  57. Philippines
  58. Republic of the Congo
  59. Rwanda
  60. Samoa
  61. Saudi Arabia
  62. Senegal
  63. Seychelles
  64. Solomon Islands
  65. South Africa
  66. South Sudan
  67. Sudan
  68. Sri Lanka
  69. Swaziland (Eswatini)
  70. Tajikistan
  71. Tanzania
  72. Timor-Leste
  73. Tonga
  74. UAE
  75. Uganda
  76. Uruguay
  77. Vanuatu
  78. Venezuela
  79. Wallis and Futuna
  80. Yemen
  81. Zambia
  82. Zimbabwe

Other notes of importance around these locations:

  • These service disruptions affect Priority Mail Express International® (PMEI), Priority Mail International® (PMI), First-Class Mail International® (FCMI), First-Class Package International Service® (FCPIS®), International Priority Airmail® (IPA®), International Surface Air Lift® (ISAL®), and M-Bag® items.
  • For already deposited items, other than GXG, Postal Service employees must endorse them “Mail Service Suspended — Return to Sender” and then place them in the mail stream for return.
  • For any returned item bearing a customs form, the Postal Service will, upon request, refund postage and fees on mail returned due to the suspension of service.
  • For all other returned items not bearing a customs declarations form, the Postal Service will, upon request, refund postage and fees on mail returned due to the suspension of service, or the sender may remail them with the existing postage once service has been restored. When remailing under this option, customers must cross out the markings “Mail Service Suspended — Return to Sender.”

USPS continues to have a temporary suspension of the guarantee on Priority Mail Express International destined for China and Hong Kong, which has been effective since Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, due to widespread airline cancellations and restrictions into this area.

March 28, 2020: USPS is making a change to its policy around deliverying mail to businesses that are closed. Current policy is to indicate the date the mail is first returned to be held at the delivery facility, and hold for 10 days. In order to accommodate businesses during this challenging time, USPS will now extend the hold period to 30 days before returning the items to the sender.

Once the business reopens, delivery should immediately resume unless other arrangements have been made. If the business fails to make alternative delivery arrangements or does not submit a request to hold or forward its mail after 30 days, the process of returning mail to the sender will resume.

Customers may see delays in mail and packages destined to China as well as from China, as well as to and from European countries subject to restricted passenger airline travel.

On March, 23 2020 USPS announced suspension of Priority Mail International service's guarantee to certain European countries, which include:

  • France
    • Also, La Poste has advised that effective March 30, 2020 through April 15, 2020, it will be unable to accept inbound letter-post flows in their entirety for the upcoming weeks, during which there will be four days of reception: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Efforts will be focused on urgent flows and the delivery of small packets able to help people during this confinement period. Therefore, La Poste is asking mailers worldwide to defer their non-urgent shipments to France
  • Great Britain
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland

The following countries have suspended certain mail services:

  • Romania: CN Poșta Română SA has advised that it is currently unable to send letter-post and parcel-post items to an increasing number of countries both within and outside the European Union. Therefore, it is no longer accepting letter-post and parcel-post items for international destinations to which transport capacities are unavailable.
  • Kazakhstan: The country has declared a state of emergency until April 15, 2020 which may result in delays of inbound shipments.
  • Denmark: Post Danmark (PostNord Denmark) has suspended signature on delivery. Delivery will be conducted via methods that limit human contact, with immediate effect.
  • Grenada: Grenada Postal Corporation, has advised that the Government of Grenada has declared a limited state of emergency for 21 days effective March 25, 2020. Outbound and inbound mail delivery services and other services will be affected.
  • Nepal: Nepal Post has advised that the Government of Nepal has extended the suspension of all incoming international flights to Nepal until April 15, 2020, and the country is in lockdown until April 7, 2020. These measures are adversely affecting the collection, transmission and delivery of mail items.
  • Colombia: Servicios Postales Nacionales S.A. 4-72, has advised that, owing to the emergency resulting from the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), there will be significant delays in all of its international inbound and outbound letter-post, parcel-post and EMS services.
  • Bolivia: Agencia Boliviana de Correos has advised that effective from March 22 to April 15, 2020, it is temporarily suspending all mail services.

The Postal Service will continue to accept and process mail destined for the aforementioned countries. This mail will be held within their network and will be delivered once mail service is restored.

* FedEx:

FedEx is temporarily suspending signature required for most deliveries in the U.S. - Except for shipments with adult signature required, physical signature not required for Ground or Express services.

Italy and Saudi Arabia: Restrictions and limited carrier activities into and out of impacted regions are in place. Existing containment measures in Italy continue to impact service throughout Italy. A number of airlines have suspended flights to and/or from Italy. The Saudi Arabian government now prohibits the arrival of flights originating in or passing through airports in the following countries:

  • Bahrain
  • Egypt
  • United Arab Emirates (UAE)
  • Iraq
  • Italy
  • Korea
  • Kuwait
  • Lebanon
  • Syria

Malaysia: The government has closed all non-essential services effective March 18, 2020. FedEx Logistics is operational in Malaysia; however, due to the movement control order, arriving cargo cannot be received by shippers. No cargo will be received until the movement control order is lifted, which is currently scheduled for March 31, 2020.

Vietnam: The Vietnamese government has implemented a 30-day halt to issuing visas. Carriers are responding with plans to cut passenger flights. Australia and New Zealand: Effective March 20, 2020, the Australia and New Zealand governments are restricting arriving air passengers to only citizens and residents.