What are the last posting dates and how do I plan around them?

Every December produces the same conversation about whether something will arrive. The dates themselves are published well in advance and the planning is simple; what catches people is that international deadlines fall in November, when nobody is thinking about it.

Safety

Step by step

1. Find the dates as soon as they are published.Royal Mail publishes last recommended posting dates in the autumn, and couriers publish their own. They shift slightly each year with where the weekends fall, so check rather than assuming last year's.
2. Note the international dates first.These are the ones that catch people. Deadlines for many destinations fall in late November or the first days of December — weeks before the domestic ones and before most people have started.
3. Treat the published date as the last chance, not the plan.It is the latest date something might arrive in time, in a system running at its busiest. Posting a week earlier costs nothing and removes the whole problem.
4. Work backwards from posting, not from Christmas.If the parcel must be posted on the 15th, it must be wrapped on the 14th, which means the present must have arrived by the 13th, which means ordering by about the 8th. Write those dates down.
5. Use tracked services for anything that matters.Tracked and signed-for costs a little more and gives you proof of posting, a delivery record and a basis for a claim. For anything valuable it is not optional.
6. Keep the proof of posting.Free at a Post Office counter and worthless once thrown away. Without it there is no claim for a lost item, whatever service you paid for.
7. Check what cannot be sent.Aerosols, perfume, alcohol, batteries and many liquids are restricted or prohibited, particularly by air and internationally. Perfume is the one people are most often caught by.
8. Fill in customs paperwork properly for international parcels.A customs declaration with an accurate description and value. Vague or understated declarations are the main cause of parcels being held, and the recipient may face charges.
9. Pack for the sorting system, not the doorstep.Parcels are handled mechanically and dropped. Rigid box, generous padding, sealed on every seam, and the address written on the box rather than only on a label that can peel.
10. Consider sending direct from the retailer.Ordering to the recipient's address removes an entire posting leg. Ask for a gift receipt and check whether they will gift-wrap.
11. Have a fallback for anything that will not make it.A digital gift, a card saying what is coming, or something bought locally near them. Deciding this on the 22nd is harder than deciding it on the 1st.
12. Post early in the day and early in the week.Collections are earlier than people assume and queues at a Post Office in December are long. A weekday morning in the first half of December is a different experience from the 20th.

Tips

• Put the international posting dates in your calendar in October with a week's warning. They are the only ones that genuinely catch people out.
• Buy postage online and print labels where you can. It is usually cheaper and avoids the counter queue entirely.
• Send cards second class and early. There is no advantage to first class for a card and the cost difference across thirty cards is real.

Common mistakes

• Posting on the last recommended date — It is the last day something might arrive, in the busiest week of the year. Any disruption at all and it does not, and there is no time to recover.
• Not keeping proof of posting — It is free and it is the only basis for a claim if an item is lost. Without it, a tracked service is worth much less than you paid for.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask