So I was looking at Google Trends this morning and noticed that one of the top ten “spicy” questions was “Is there mail on Presidents Day?” Being that it is Presidents Day, the question is obviously timely, but it struck me as rather odd that after all these years people are still not sure on which days mail is, and is not, delivered.
A brief primer for those who forget from week to week or year to year. There is no mail delivered on Sunday. Ever. And there is no mail delivered on federal holidays. It’s that simple. If you keep these basic two rules in mind you will never have to Google this question again.
In their defense, perhaps some people may not realize that Presidents Day is a federal holiday, although there are a few good clues. Presidents are federal officials, so it would be logical that the one day a year on which all presidents are commemorated would be a federal holiday.
Now when I was a little girl and walked ten miles to school in the snow, we had two holidays to celebrate presidents, Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s Birthday. Thus we were better off than the children of today who get only one day off of school, although many school districts provide an entire week off from school this time of year to break the flu cycle, a period which people who still have money refer to as ski week. Remember when people had money?
But I digress.
While researching this article I learned some important facts about Presidents Day about which I was unaware. For instance, did you know that people in New Mexico celebrate the state holiday of Presidents Day on the Friday after Thanksgiving? This obviously has nothing to do with giving a fig about presidents and more to do with giving state employees a nice four day weekend, unless, perhaps, the government of New Mexico is implying that our former presidents were turkeys. (Current New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson may be thinking this about our current White House resident.)
As far as mail delivery on Presidents Day, why do people even care, aside from the fact that it will take an extra day to get your next Netflix movie. Otherwise, don’t people pay most of their bills online anymore? I rarely get anything in the mail worthy of opening, except for the occasional free return address stickers which I rarely get to use since I mail so few things these days. In fact, I am still trying to use up 39 cent and 41 cent stamps from a couple of years ago. Note to self: Resist the pretty picture stamps and buy only Forever stamps from now on.
In conclusion, no Virginia, there is no mail delivered on Presidents Day, although you can still receive packages from FedEx and UPS. You can even have a pizza delivered with hot wings and breadsticks.
Just no mail.
See also: How to Celebrate Presidents Day
