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Heads up! Amazon holiday shipping deadlines near


SAN FRANCISCO — If Amazon is one of Santa's helpers for you , keep a close eye on the calendar. Several drop-dead deadlines are looming.

For Amazon customers who haven't signed up for the e-commerce giant's $99 Prime membership, which gets them free, two-day delivery, the final day for standard shipped items to arrive in time for Christmas is Friday Dec. 18.

Prime members can put off clicking the order button until 9:00 pm Pacific time on Tuesday, Dec. 22.

If even Tuesday eludes you, one-day shipping is available in many areas through Dec. 23.

For the final push (or perhaps a bottle of wine to celebrate checking off your entire present list) there's always Amazon's same-day delivery on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24.

The shortest window is free, two-hour delivery available to Prime customers through Prime Now. These packages sometimes arrive in an Amazon-branded van.

For those who miss even that, take heart. Remember that in many Orthodox Christian churches, which still use the older Julian calendar, Christmas doesn't arrive until January 7.

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