Following the recent piece of research that we conducted into consumers shopping intentions and parcel delivery expectations as they prepare for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, we now know when the last-posting dates for this Christmas are.
Royal Mail has published its annual list of last Christmas posting dates, along with lots of other helpful dates, including international deadlines, as well as helpful advice regarding how to package your items correctly. The all-important dates for you to mark on your calendar are:
Friday 17th December: Royal Mail Bulk Mail Economy
Saturday 18th December: 2nd Class and 2nd Class Signed For
Tuesday 21st December: 1st Class and 1st Class Signed For and Royal Mail Tracker 48*
Wednesday 22nd December: Royal Mail Tracker 24*
Thursday 23rd December: Special Delivery Guaranteed
If either yourself or your business is planning on using Parcelforce to ship items this Christmas, you should also be aware that parcels sent for UK delivery using its ‘two day’ services may be sent up to Wednesday 22nd December, whilst next-day delivery parcels may be sent up until Thursday 23rd December.
For International posting dates, it is vital to shop early and send early, particularly given the ever-changing coronavirus measures in place across all continents. These global postal dates for your calendar are:
Wednesday 1st December: Caribbean
Monday 6th December: Australia, Greece, Italy, New Zealand and Portugal
Wednesday 8th December: Africa, Central and South America, Asia, Far and Middle East
Friday 10th December: Cyprus, Malta and Sweden
Saturday 11th December: Eastern Europe (except Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia), Turkey
Monday 13th December: Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Poland and USA
Thursday 16th December: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland
If you’re concerned about your presents not arriving on time, or potentially getting lost, then Quadient’s Web Tracking System (WTS) could be a potential solution. This tracking system allows employees to check up on deliveries for themselves and know where they are as well as when they are due to arrive.
Parcel lockers are another great solution which can help to minimise the physical disruption of desk-side deliveries and ensure parcels stay safe if people are off site. In addition to this, security scanners can help to provide extra safety, particularly if there’s an increase in incoming mail volumes, along with deliveries likely to be around the time of the year when there are fewer manual checks taking place, such as around the Christmas holiday period.
Now you know when to post your Christmas parcels, we would like to wish all our customers, partners and readers a happy festive season. We hope all your parcels are delivered to you safely!
* Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48 services are not available to purchase at Post Office® branches