DHL is one of the largest logistical companies on the planet as well as one of the most trusted shipping partners worldwide. Headquartered out of Germany, DHL is a true global shipping services. They offer delivery services to more than 220+ nations around the world, including overnight and express delivery, freight forwarding options, as well as warehousing solutions. At the same time, though, DHL has some limitations – including the fact that they are a little bit spotty when it comes to weekend delivery (particularly on Saturday). If you’ve been wondering “does DHL deliver on Saturdays” you’ve come to the right place, though. We can answer that question for you below!

Does DHL Deliver on Saturdays?

Truth be told, the answer to “does DHL deliver on Saturdays” is a little more complex than most people realize. Unlike other services (like the USPS, FedEx, or UPS) with guaranteed Saturday delivery, DHL offers Saturday delivery options – but there are certainly some stipulations, requirements, and factors that come into play. Let’s run through the important things you need to know about Saturday delivery through DHL.

Does DHL Deliver to Residential Addresses on Saturday?

DHL will offer delivery to residential addresses on Saturday, provided you live in Europe. US customers, on the other hand, are not going to be able to take advantage of Saturday delivery to residential addresses for the most part. Instead, DHL runs Monday through Friday with very limited options on Saturday and next to no options for delivery on Sunday. US customers are going to want to make sure that they preplan all of their DHL deliveries, particularly if they are hoping to have their packages arrive somewhere before the weekend cut off.

Does DHL Deliver to Business Addresses on Saturday?

DHL also does not deliver to business addresses in the United States on Saturday, either. This is a huge departure from what is “industry-standard” for the most part in the United States. All of the other major competitors to DHL – including the United States Postal Service, FedEx, and UPS – offer Saturday delivery (some of them at no extra charge). The fact that DHL does not yet offer business delivery on Saturday is a bit of a sticking point, particularly for small business owners and e-commerce operators that might need to get packages out the door on Saturday (or are expecting deliveries on the weekend, too). Again, US customers that are looking to have packages delivered on Saturday are going to want to make sure that they preplan ahead as much as possible. You’ll need to make sure that your delivery will arrive by Friday afternoon if you’re going with DHL. If you wait any longer than that, your packages almost always will have to sit over the weekend until they can be delivered on Monday.

Will DHL Deliver to Foreign Addresses on Saturday?

Though Saturday delivery is next to impossible to take advantage of from DHL in the United States, this isn’t the situation in Europe (and other locales globally). A big part of this has to do with the fact that DHL is, after all, a European company based and headquartered out of Germany. They offer standard Saturday delivery on almost all packages to addresses throughout Europe. Insert locales, though, customers are going to have to pay a little bit extra to take advantage of Saturday delivery – though this price usually comes in at anywhere between €20 and €40 (which is the high-end of this extra fee). On top of that, Saturday delivery hours in Europe are almost always significantly limited to just a handful of hours in the morning. European customers are not going to see DHL vehicles driving all over the place, dropping off packages (or picking up packages) in the afternoon.

What About Sunday Delivery from DHL?

As far as Sunday delivery goes, you aren’t going to find any DHL trucks out on the road on Sunday in the United States. In other countries, though – especially in Germany and the UAE, for example – it’s not at all uncommon to see DHL vehicles driving around processing Sunday pickups as well as Sunday deliveries. What’s interesting here, though, is that DHL partners with local post office facilities to do these kinds of deliveries. In a lot of countries around the world Sunday is a “normal working day”, unlike in the United States where it’s not at all uncommon for businesses to be shuttered over the weekend – but especially on Sunday.

At the same time, DHL does charge an extra fee for Sunday deliveries. You’re looking at a similar fee to the €20-€40 fee that Saturday deliveries would have cost, too. Sunday delivery timelines are not generally restricted to the early morning hours, though. It’s a lot more common to see DHL vehicles driving around in the afternoon on a Sunday in locales around the world where this type of delivery is available.

What Do the DHL Delivery Windows Look Like?

The traditional delivery window for DHL (in the United States, anyway) is Monday through Friday, during normal “business hours”. That means you’re probably going to see DHL vehicles driving around your town or city between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM. Sometimes you’ll see DHL vehicles out a little bit earlier than that, and sometimes you’ll see them out a little later than that as well. For the most part, though, DHL operators try to stick to this “normal business hours” routine.

During the holiday season, though, things can get a little more unpredictable. When DHL is handling a significant volume of packages (like all shipping companies do during the holiday season) it’s a lot more common to see these vehicles and these drivers on the road as early as 5 AM or 6 AM local time, sometimes staying out as late as 8 PM (or later) to make sure these deliveries get done.

DHL does have an exceptional reputation for going above and beyond when it comes to these high-volume delivery windows. They want to make sure that they really enforce their global reputation as one of the most trusted shipping partners on the planet. You don’t have to worry about DHL fumbling the ball when it comes to your holiday packages, that’s for sure. They’ll do absolutely everything they can to make sure that your package gets there ahead of the holiday, even if that means their drivers have to spend a little bit more time out of the road than they would have during normal operating seasons.

What are the Common DHL Delivery Hours Throughout the Week?

As we just mentioned a moment ago, the normal delivery hours for DHL (the United States) begin at about 8 AM local time and end somewhere around 5 PM local time. It may not be all that uncommon to see DHL trucks on the roads a little bit earlier or a little bit later than that, though. There are certainly some drivers that are willing to stay out a little bit later to make sure that their entire truckload of packages get delivered on time. Some drivers also like to hit the road a bit earlier, giving them plenty of opportunity to make all of their deliveries without any headache, without any hassle, and without any rush.

At the end of the day, though, if you work a traditional 8 to 5 job (or 9-to-5 job) the odds are pretty good that you’re not going to see DHL drivers on the road – simply because they are working during the same hours that you are! As far as the delivery window around the rest of the world is concerned, it’s not all that different than the US. Some locales are going to have earlier starting hours and earlier finishing hours. Some are going to start later and end later. And others are going to start earlier and end later or start later and end earlier. As a general rule of thumb, though, the standard 8/9-to-5 operation is pretty much the rule across the board.

Does DHL Offer Same Day Delivery?

DHL does offer same-day delivery services, with immediate package acceptance and pickup from more than 1900 locations around the world. DHL same-day delivery is a global service as well. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your package will be picked up in the morning in New York and dropped off at its ultimate destination in Tokyo that same day. But it does mean that you’ll have the opportunity to leverage same day delivery from any of the areas that support DHL services.

Another really cool advantage of DHL same-day delivery is that it is available on a 24/7 basis 365 days a year. Yes, that means that if you absolutely, positively MUST have your package delivered on a Saturday – or even a Sunday – you can move forward with DHL same-day delivery services to have that taken care of for you. Obviously, the same-day delivery fee for a DHL service is always going to be significantly higher than their “traditional” delivery services packages. You still get track and trace capabilities, delivery to addresses to more than 220 nations around the world, and all the other benefits that DHL provides, too. If you are really pressed for time and need to make sure that a Saturday (or Sunday) delivery is possible with DHL, this is the only effective way to go (outside of Europe, anyway).

Can I Pay Extra for DHL to Delivery Before the Weekend to Avoid Delays?

There are opportunities to pay for next day delivery and expedited delivery services from DHL to avoid any potential weekend holdovers and delays in the United States. For starters, though, it’s a good idea to send your package with DHL as early in the week as possible to avoid these kinds of extra fees. Getting a package that’s set to be sent across the country out the door on Monday, for example, dramatically increases the chances that it arrives before Friday (or on Friday). That eliminates any opportunity for your package to be “held over” the weekend for a Monday delivery.

When you start to send packages on Wednesday and Thursday, though, the potential for those packages to arrive at their destination through traditional DHL services before the weekend dwindle significantly. Sure, you can pay for next day delivery and expedited delivery when your package goes out on a Wednesday – but you’re still running the risk of that package not making it all the way before the Friday afternoon cut off.

Send a package out on Thursday without paying extra for next day delivery (or on a Friday without same-day delivery) and the chances are pretty good that even if it’s going across town – or across the state – it’s going to be delivered on Monday morning. Those are just a couple of things you want to think about before you send things through DHL while trying to avoid a weekend holdovers situation.

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