I think this is the first year that air shipments have an end-of-day commitment. It's too bad that shippers who really need a morning delivery (e.g. hospitals, production lines, legal documents, etc.) have to suffer due to the avalanche of Christmas presents. All the customers that ship air steadily throughout the year are penalized for shippers that ship the majority of their shipments for 2 weeks out of the year.
From ups.com:
"Holiday season service guarantees: UPS Air and international Air packages picked up or delivered within the United States are guaranteed throughout the holiday season. Commitment times for Air and international Air packages scheduled for delivery Nov. 24 and Dec. 18 - Dec. 23 will be extended as follows: UPS Next Day Air Early and UPS Worldwide Express Plus services will be extended by 90 minutes and all other Air and international Air services will be extended to end-of-day. The guarantee is suspended for all UPS Ground shipments, including shipments to and from Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, and UPS Standard shipments picked up or scheduled for delivery between Nov. 27 - Dec. 24. Visit ups.com for the UPS Tariff/Terms and Conditions. Service guarantees are subject to change.
From FedEx.com:
Monday, Dec. 18, through Saturday, Dec. 23, 2017, for shipments delivered by the end of the day on the published delivery commitment date for the selected service and destination. This applies to the following FedEx Express services: FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx 2Day, FedEx 2Day A.M.,FedEx Express Saver