How long is 3 business days?

Three business days are three calendar days, not counting weekends, and other public holidays.

The math looks like this:

3 days = 3 working days + 0 weekends + 0 public holidays

So why 3 business days?

Over time, the industry decided on three business days because it’s a short enough amount of time to give you breathing room for your mailing, without being so long that you’re punished too heavily.

Here’s how it works:

If you mail for delivery on a Monday, then it will take roughly two business days for your piece to arrive at its destination. However, the post office doesn’t work on weekends, and holidays sometimes get in the way too. So by having three full business days, you gain a buffer that covers most of the transit time needed to get to the recipient.

If you mail for delivery on a Tuesday, then it will take roughly two business days for your piece to arrive at its destination. However, the post office doesn’t work on weekends, and holidays sometimes get in the way too. So by having three full business days, you gain a buffer that covers most of the transit time needed to get to the recipient.

The same goes for mailings on Wednesday, Thursday or any other day of the week. Following this method ensures you have a working cushion from when you send your advertising material until it arrives at its destination.

Here’s another way of looking at it: Let’s say that new customer is expecting your mailing on Friday. Since it will take two business days before your mailing arrives, you have four full business days to send the material out of a total of five workdays . The post office is closed on Saturday and Sunday, so there are three regular working days left.

If, however, you mail that same piece on Monday instead – even though the post office takes roughly two business days to do the job – you’re now missing one full working day , and you have only four calendar days (including a weekend) available. In other words, as soon as your mailing gets to the post office on Monday, it will be sitting there for three days before being delivered.

This is why it’s important to consider the transit time of your mailing when deciding what day to mail it.