How can a shipping service declare order cutoff times and business days?

Definition: A ServicePeriod under ShippingService.handlingTime describes when received orders are processed and how long handling takes. Its businessDays, cutoffTime, and duration properties express processing days, the daily order deadline, and the handling-time range.

Key facts

• Google's ShippingService documentation, last updated 8 September 2026, treats handlingTime as optional information about processing after an order reaches a warehouse.
• businessDays names the days on which received orders are processed, while cutoffTime identifies the time after which an order is processed on a later day.
• Google documents the cutoff as an ISO 8601 time such as 23:30:00-05:00; for an order after the cutoff, one day is added to the delivery-time estimate.
• duration uses QuantitativeValue for the delay between order receipt and goods leaving the warehouse.
• Schema.org defines ServicePeriod as a duration constrained by cutoff time and business days, and places it in shipping handling-time and transit-time contexts.

What does handlingTime describe?

Google places the ServicePeriod object in the handlingTime property of a ShippingService. The property covers the interval after receiving an order and before the goods leave the warehouse. The same Google documentation distinguishes this from transitTime, which covers the journey after dispatch; its transit-time section omits cutoffTime.

The schema.org ServicePeriod definition describes the type as a duration with constraints about cutoff time and business days. It also says that, in the context of ShippingService, the format contains cutoff time, business days, and duration in a structured form.

How do businessDays and cutoffTime work together?

businessDays is a list of DayOfWeek values. It tells Google which days received orders are processed. A cutoff applies to each listed processing day: orders received after that time are processed on a later day, and Google documents one additional day in the delivery-time estimate for those orders.

The cutoff value includes a time-zone offset. Google's example uses 22:30:00-05:00 for a 10:30 PM Eastern Standard Time cutoff. Schema.org describes the same property with the ISO 8601 example 23:30:00-05:00, representing 6:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, five hours behind Coordinated Universal Time.

"handlingTime": {
  "@type": "ServicePeriod",
  "businessDays": [
    "https://schema.org/Monday",
    "https://schema.org/Tuesday",
    "https://schema.org/Wednesday",
    "https://schema.org/Thursday",
    "https://schema.org/Friday"
  ],
  "cutoffTime": "22:30:00-05:00",
  "duration": {
    "@type": "QuantitativeValue",
    "minValue": 0,
    "maxValue": 2,
    "unitCode": "DAY"
  }
}

How should handling duration be encoded?

Google requires duration to use QuantitativeValue. A fixed handling time uses value; a range uses minValue and maxValue. The documentation requires value or maxValue with unitCode, and permits minValue as the lower bound when a range is needed.

The handling-time units are days, represented by DAY or d. Google describes value, minValue, and maxValue as non-negative whole numbers. When value is present, minValue and maxValue are excluded from that object. In the example, minValue is 0 and maxValue is 2, so the documented range covers zero to two handling days.

How can the markup be checked?

Google's structured-data instructions say to validate the code with the Rich Results Test and fix critical errors. Check that the processing-day list reflects the warehouse schedule, that the cutoff contains its offset, and that the duration object uses the documented day unit and numeric form.

Related terms

• Where does a site's standard ShippingService markup belong?
• How are handling and transit ranges represented for a product offer?
• Which shipping rate does Google use when several conditions match?
• OfferShippingDetails structured data

FAQ

Does cutoffTime describe the carrier's delivery deadline?

No. It describes the time after which received orders are no longer processed that same day. Google places it in the handling-time ServicePeriod; transit time has a separate ServicePeriod use.

Can a fixed handling duration use minValue and maxValue?

Use value for an exact handling duration. Google says that when value is provided, minValue and maxValue must not be specified.

What does businessDays contain?

It contains DayOfWeek values for the days on which received orders are processed. Google's example uses Monday through Friday as schema.org day URLs.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Merchant shipping policy (ShippingService) structured data", 8 September 2026
2. Schema.org, "ServicePeriod", 16 September 2026

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