Royal Mail has confirmed its last posting dates for Christmas to ensure letters and parcels are delivered in time for 25 December.
Final dates for sending items to some countries abroad are fast approaching, but there is still a while left post to addresses here in the UK.
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It comes as the postal service braces for industrial action in December as staff are due to walkout on six days next month. This includes Christmas Eve, which is one of the busiest days of the year for the company.
Communications Workers Union (CWU) members are already planning to strike on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and have now added dates on 9, 11, 14, 15, 23 and 24 December.
Members of the CWU are involved in a long running dispute over pay and conditions and the walkouts follow a recent ballot for strike action which saw around 115,000 union members vote to take action to fight for a “dignified, proper pay rise”. It follows previous strike action in August, September and early November.
A CWU spokesperson said: “The CWU want a negotiated settlement with Royal Mail Group and will continue to engage the company to that end. But those in charge of Royal Mail need to wake up and realise we won’t allow them to destroy the livelihoods of postal workers.”
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Royal Mail has warned that services could be disrupted over the coming weeks, but said it is doing “all we can to minimise any delays”. On days when national strike action is taking place it will deliver as many Special Delivery and Tracked24 parcels as possible, and prioritise the delivery of Covid test kits and medical prescriptions. The postal service will not be delivering letters on these days, with the exception of Special Delivery.
It is recommended that people post items as early as possible in advance of the strike dates, but collections will be less frequent on days when strike action is taking place.
When are the last Christmas posting dates in the UK?
Monday 12 December
- 2nd Class
- 2nd Class Signed For
- Royal Mail 48
Friday 16 December
- 1st Class
- 1st Class Signed For
- Royal Mail 24
- Royal Mail Tracked 48
Monday 19 December
- Royal Mail Tracked 24
Wednesday 21 December
- Special Delivery Guaranteed
When are the last Christmas posting dates internationally?
International Economy
Friday 25 November
- Cyprus, Eastern Europe, Greece, Iceland, Malta, Turkey
Monday 28 November
- Western Europe
Unfortunately the deadline has already passed for all non-European destinations, other than those listed above, including the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. However, you can still send parcels via standard delivery at a slightly higher cost to ensure items arrive on time.
International Standard and International tracking and signature services
Thursday 1 December
- Australia and New Zealand
Friday 2 December
- China (People’s Republic)
Monday 5 December
- All remaining Caribbean destinations
Wednesday 7 December
- Africa, Asia (except China, People’s Republic), Central and South America, Far and Middle East
Thursday 8 December
- Cyprus and Malta
Friday 9 December
- Greece, Eastern Europe (except Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia) and Turkey
Saturday 10 December
- Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Poland, Sweden, USA
Monday 12 December
- Austria, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland
Wednesday 14 December
- Belgium, France, Luxembourg