Christmas shoppers warned of chaotic delivery deadlines as first cut-off hits this week
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Christmas shoppers are being urged to check post and courier deadlines now, with the first cut-off for overseas parcels landing this week and UK dates following fast.
Christmas shoppers risk missing out on presents this year if they miss key delivery dates, a parcel company has warned.
Those who want to post letters and parcels for Christmas, or order items online, will need to keep an eye on the post deadlines to ensure they do not miss out on Christmas deadlines.
There could be further confusion because Royal Mail and parcel delivery companies such as Evri, ParcelForce, DPD and Yodel all have different delivery deadlines before Christmas.
The first Christmas posting deadline is as early as Friday 5 December for anybody who is buying online or wants to send presents through the post.
Parcel2Go, which has compiled a guide to Christmas post deadlines for packages and letters being sent across the UK, Europe and the rest of the world. The first deadline will be economy packages to the rest of the world including Australia and New Zealand, which falls on 5 December.
The deadline is for TNT economy express but those who post Royal Mail tracked can still send letters and parcels across the world before 9 December.
Shoppers have a lot longer to wait until the final deadline for post when they are sending to the UK. Royal Mail, ParcelForce, DPD and other delivery services offer next day delivery that guarantees delivery before Christmas as late as 22 December.
Royal Mail’s second class deadline is Wednesday 17 December, while the first class deadline is Saturday 20 December.
There are also two-day and three-day post options with posting deadlines from 15 December to 19 December, but people are urged to check the full list of delivery companies before they send or order anything.
You can see the full list of postage deadlines here.
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