What is the latest date to send Christmas cards and parcels via Royal Mail?
Royal Mail is urging customers to take “enough time” to post items this year.
If you want cards and presents to arrive on Christmas Day, you should post 2nd class items no later than December 19while 1st class must be shipped no later than December 21.
Special deliveries and guaranteed items with tracking must be shipped before December 22. Special deliveries with the company’s “Saturday Guarantee” can ship on December 23.
Why are Royal Mail employees taking industrial action?
The dispute between the postal service and the CWU, which represents more than 100,000 of Royal Mail’s 140,000 employees, revolves around pay and conditions.
In the wake of soaring inflation, the CWU argues that the company’s postal workers deserve a raise to match the price increases. Inflation in the UK was 11 percent last month, a 41-year high.
They are also angry about changes to working conditions that Royal Mail bosses want to implement, including a seven-day-a-week parcel delivery service that will reduce letter delivery to five days, increased automation of parcel and letter sorting and later end timesto allow for more next day deliveries.
Royal Mail says the company is losing £1 million a day and without radical changes the company has no future. Bosses have threatened layoffs and a possible breakup of the company if striking workers cannot be taken to their limits.
What if I send mail internationally?
If you use international economy or international standard mail, you missed the deadline for cards and packages to arrive in time for Christmas. The deadline for sending mail to family and friends serving in the armed forces has also passed.
The travel plans of train travelers will also take a hit in the run-up to Christmas planned train strikes.