Walmart Extends Holiday Delivery Deadlines, Adds Instant Delivery Option

Walmart expanded its holiday delivery windows and rolled out a new instant ordering feature in a December 9 announcement, aiming to capture late season demand while advertising wider delivery coverage. Express one hour delivery will be available for orders placed through 5 p.m. local time on Christmas Eve, the company said. The retailer also introduced a Get it Now option in the Walmart app that displays an estimated delivery time in minutes and allows one tap ordering.

Same day pickup and delivery cutoffs were extended to noon on December 24, and standard shipping deadlines were moved to 12:30 p.m. on December 23 for Christmas Day arrival, subject to availability and fees. Walmart cited updated delivery coverage, saying its network can reach about 95 percent of U.S. households in under three hours. The announcement also noted promotional details aimed at new customers and included a media contact at Press@walmart.com and a full release posted on the company website.

For frontline employees the changes translate to a busier and later shift profile during the peak holiday period. Extended cutoffs and expanded Express one hour service typically increase volumes for last mile delivery drivers and independent delivery partners, and push more orders into same day pickup lanes. In store pickup teams can expect more rushes late on December 24, while back room and fulfillment workers will face tighter packing and shipping timelines in the run up to the holiday.

Managers will need to balance staffing, scheduling and safety as stores and delivery operations remain active later than in prior seasons. The change can mean more overtime and a heavier concentration of work in the final hours before the new deadlines. For employees, that may affect shift lengths, start and end times, and workload intensity during a traditionally high stress period.

The move underscores how major retailers are investing in faster delivery to capture last minute sales, and how those decisions ripple down to the schedules and day to day operations of store teams, warehouse workers, and delivery partners. For media inquiries contact Press@walmart.com. More information is available at corporate.walmart.com/news/2025/12/09/walmart-gives-last-minute-shoppers-more-time-to-order-gifts