For those who are writing cards and sending parcels to family and friends in the UK and overseas, then the Christmas posting dates for these have been published.
It may help to keep these dates handy so you can get your cards, letters and presents sent in time to be received for Christmas.
As should be expected, there’s a list of dates which will depend on where in the country you are sending your cards and presents to and which post service you use.
Last Christmas posting dates 2018
For anybody who is sending their letter or card by second class post, then the deadline is Tuesday 17 December.
For first class, the deadline is Thursday 20 December.
However, Royal mail’s Tracked 24 service has Friday 21 December as the last date for posting.
For anybody who misses these dates, for whatever reason, and you really must get something to arrive in the UK then the very latest date for sending anything is to use Special Delivery Guaranteed with a deadline of Saturday 22nd December.
After this date, your post will miss its Christmas delivery.
Last international Christmas posting dates 2018
Since postal services differ around the world, there are a number of dates you will need to appreciate depending on the country.
Some of these dates are probably sooner than many people are expecting them to be.
If you’re posting to the Middle East and Africa, then the deadline is Tuesday 4 December.
Letters and cards being posted to Cyprus, Asia, the Far East and Malta plus Eastern Europe, except Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the deadline is Friday 7 December.
Posting to the Caribbean and South and Central America is Saturday 8 December.
Letters to New Zealand, Australia, Turkey and Greece have a deadline of Monday 10 December.
If you want to post cards and presents to the US, Canada, Italy, the Czech Republic or Poland, then you need to do so by Friday 14 December.
The deadline for the post to Sweden and Finland is Saturday 15 December.
There’s a deadline of Monday 17 December for letters and cards going to Austria, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Netherlands, Slovakia, Portugal, Switzerland and Spain.
For mail going to France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Ireland, the deadline is Tuesday 18 December.
Armed forces last Christmas posting date
For anyone sending items and presents to someone who is in the armed services and posted overseas, they can use HM Forces mail service which is provided by the British Forces Post Office (BFPO).
BFPO offers a discounted mail delivery service and there’s no charge for a letter that is being sent to any personnel currently on operational duty.
The last date for sending mail to operational members of HM Forces is Monday 26 November and for mail and presents to static HM Forces is Friday 14 December.
