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"I put my store on Vacation Settings to be safe"
???
Safe from what?
Even if the CP site stopped working for the weekend and PayPal postage is not available until Monday, what is the big deal? That is no valid reason to lose sales over the weekend.
On a worst case basis PayPal postage is out of service for a month and folks go buy stamps at the post office! No reason to lose business.
"it would take a lot of stamps on some heavier packages!"
Postage stamps come in large denominations such as $5.00 etc...
For what my two cents are worth, 'mj', I've done the same thing (putting my store on a very brief vacation, but with items still visible) in situations where I knew I might not be able to meet my 1-day shipping window.
Sadly, with eBay's defect system being what it is for smaller sellers, a lost sale is better than a potential defect. Bigger volume sellers can afford to gamble a bit more. And buying stamps isn't a good alternative for everybody, depending on the distance to the nearest P.O., not to mention the time wasted.
Come to think of it, I recall using the "vacation" setting the last time CP had a meltdown. The problem with both CP and weather is that we never really know for certain that things will be completely back to normal within the time expected. So a sale on a Sunday could conceivably result in a shipping delay until Tuesday a.m. (or later!) in the present situation with CP.
I think a buyer who is actually interested enough to have made a purchase will put the item on watch and return. Sellers put their stores on vacation all the time and buyers have become used to seeing that. As long as you don't do it too often, it's peace of mind for a small seller with high standards.
When you say you dispatch the same day (or within 24 hours on weekends), I assume you have a CP drugstore counter facility or the like that's open on Saturday (and Sunday?) to be able to keep to those dispatch windows? Most of my parcels go out the same day on weekdays, but because my little local P.O. closes for the weekend at noon on Saturday, I don't dare say "same day dispatch" or "within 24 hours" in my listings.
Just to play devil's advocate for a moment, you mention your listings state: "dispatched same-day or within 24 hours of payment, whichever is less". It struck me that I'm not sure this statement works in your best interests. Personally I'd remove the "whichever is less" part if you can, because, if read literally, it logically holds you to always dispatching within the shorter window, i.e. same day (which will always be the lesser time frame). At least I think this is how some buyers might understand it. I'm being terribly finicky, but what about a buyer who purchases and pays on a Saturday night? As a buyer, I might think that means you'll be sending the item off by Sunday night -- are you able to do that?
If you're not fortunate enough to have a postal facility that's open all weekends, I'd consider replacing the text with something along the lines of: "dispatched same-day if payment made weekdays, or within 24 hours of payment on weekends", if you get what I mean.
If you can dispatch on Saturdays and Sundays, then you could remove the "whichever is less" and promise "same-day" dispatch across the board (assuming you're willing and able to go out to drop off parcels every Saturday and Sunday).
Does this make any sense? I realize it may all be moot as the time involved in revising all those listings may not make it feasible, even if it does make sense. 
