Bloomberg NewsHoliday packages at a U.P.S. facility last year.

If you sat out Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there’s one more holiday-shopping-related date you may want to mark on your calendar: Free Shipping Day.

This year, it’s Friday, Dec. 16. A number of merchants large and small — more than 2,000 are listed on the event’s Web site — have pledged to offer free shipping, with delivery by Christmas Eve, for online purchases made on that day. (Details of the offers vary.) Ordering gifts on that day can save you some money — assuming that you can still find what you want in stock.

If you would rather not wait, some retailers offer free shipping year-round, although sometimes a minimum order amount is required. L.L. Bean made a splash earlier this year when it began offering free shipping with no minimum purchase. According to Bean’s Web site, you can order as late as noon on Dec. 21 and still get free shipping with delivery by Dec. 24 (for items in stock, of course).

That is helpful if (like me) you tend to procrastinate. To help you figure out just how late you can wait at other outlets, there is a handy list of standard and express holiday shipping deadlines by store on FreeShipping.org.

How important is free shipping to you during the holiday season?

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