Everything you need to know about Veterans Day 2025

The federal observance of Veterans Day, a day honoring all those who have served with honor and dedication to the Armed Forces, living or dead, brings parades and special offers for veterans and active-duty military across the country. You can check out the highlights here:

Federal offices and public agencies

Although this year, due to the longest shutdown in history, it cannot be said to be anything novel or a consequence of the holiday, federal offices remain closed and most public services are suspended. However, while several state and local governments will also suspend operations, emergency services and public hospitals will remain active.

Banks and financial markets

A large portion of banks and credit unions will keep their branch doors closed. Those who need to will be able to use ATMs and online banking services for transfers, payments or deposits.

The financial markets, on the other hand, such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ, will operate normally, since Veterans Day is not an official market holiday.

The exception is the bond markets, which do observe the holiday. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association reported that fixed-income trading stops for the day, so those who want to transact Treasury or other bonds will have to wait a day.

Supermarkets and retail stores

Veterans Day is not a mandatory holiday for private businesses. Therefore, most supermarkets, chains and retail stores, will keep their usual hours to serve customers who come to their establishments. In fact, many restaurants and stores will offer special discounts to celebrate the day.

Special discounts

Chains such as Applebee's, Starbucks, Chipotle, Red Lobster, Arby's, Cracker Barrel and Krispy Kreme are offering courtesy meals, drinks or other benefits to veterans and active military. Many of these promotions typically require proof of service, including documentation such as a veteran's ID card or DD214 discharge papers.

Postal Service and shipping

Although the Postal Service stops and all its offices will remain closed, shipments through private courier companies will be operational. Thus, UPS and FedEx confirm normal pickup and delivery schedules and the opening of their offices and branches.

However, it must be stressed that those packages that were sent through UPS SurePost and UPS Mail Innovations could suffer a day's delay in delivery, since, they depend on USPS services for final delivery.

The New York Parade

New York becomes the benchmark for the Veterans Day celebration each year with the massive parade that crosses the iconic Fifth Avenue. This year, it will kick off at 12:30 am (Eastern time) and will feature 20,000 members of the USPS and veterans.

This year's celebration has a special flavor as it commemorates the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the Revolutionary War in 1775 and celebrates the birth of the United States Army (United States Army), the Marine Corps (United States Marine Corps) and the Navy (United States Navy).

This year’s Grand Marshals will be Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha, veteran advocate Stephen Peck, and astronaut Sunita “Suni” Williams, a retired Navy captain.