<p>Hey, you guys know those computers at your local USPS store that’s open 24/7 and allows you to print out your own stamps and put it on priority mail packages?</p>
<p>Do they postmark for you?</p>
<p>As in, since they’re open 24/7, can I theoretically go to the post office at 11:00 PM on Jan 1 and have them postmark it for me at that time?</p>
<p>If there is someone there to postmark it, yes</p>
<p>Yes, you can go to the post office at 11:00 p.m. and get postage with a purchase date on it, but this is different than a postmark date. </p>
<p>The last pickup/processing time for your post office may be 8:00 p.m. or earlier, and when the USPS does process your mail, it may bear a later processing date from the next USPS business day.</p>
<p>It is the processing date, not the purchase date, the colleges will look at.</p>
<p>This is why on April 15 (tax day), postal workers are at curbside to accept your mail, as it must bear the April 15 processing date on the envelope, regardless of when postage is purchased.</p>
<p>The USPS automated postage machine only prints the date when the stamp was purchased, not when the mail was actually processed.</p>
<p>Chances are, if you purchase postage on Jan. 1 at 11:00 p.m., it will carry a Jan. 3 processing date, as the post office will also be closed on Monday, Jan. 2, 2006.</p>
<p>The exception to this may be Express Mail, which may be picked up and processed on Sunday, Jan. 1 at or before 5:00 p.m. That mail may actually be processed on Sunday. But then again, maybe not!</p>
<p>You have to check with the main p.o. in your city (or the nearest big city) to see if Express Mail will even be processed on Jan. 1, 2006, a USPS holiday. You may be told that the last pickup time for Express Mail is 5:00 p.m. or earlier on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005.</p>
<p>You are cutting it way too close, because Jan. 1 is a Sunday and a holiday. There may not be any mail processing at all !!!</p>