Need to get it there quickly? Are you shipping from New Hope or Lambertville?

If you have a cousin in Alexandria, Va., or a friend in Burlington, Vt., and shipped a holiday package today, would it be faster to send from Lambertville or New Hope?

Calls to local postal offices were politely requested to be made after the holiday season, so the Free Press analyzed interactive maps of the U.S. Post Office and other delivery companies in order to asses if simply crossing the Delaware river might affect the delivery time of your mailing without extra cost.

United States Post Office (USPS)

Using the U.S. Post Office’s Priority Mail Delivery Map, there seems to be little difference in two-day delivery time. However, if you’re mailing to South Jersey, Philadelphia or Delaware, then New Hope seems to be a better bet to get the mailing there the next day without opting for overnight shipping. Lambertville appears to be best for the New York metropolitan area, including Albany.

For larger packages, the pattern holds. According to the USPS Service Standards Interactive map, boxes destined for Philadelphia would get there quicker if shipped from New Hope, compared to the Jersey side. Users of the map can also compare USPS First Class, as well as Standard Mail delivery estimates.

United Parcel Service (UPS)

According to UPS’s Ground Time-in-Transit page, there are some small parts of the American Midwest and Heartland that might get your parcel there faster if shipped from New Hope. Pittsburgh, for example, shows a one-day delivery time from New Hope’s zip code, compared to Lambertville, which would be two days. However, Lambertville has some UPS speed advantages to New England.

The maps for ground shipping on FedEx’s site show no difference between New Hope or Lambertville.

When the holiday season is over, we’ll interview local workers to take a closer look at this subtle way in which the state border affects us locally.