Full list of Royal Mail, Evri and DPD Christmas postage deadlines – you need to act fast

If you’re keen to send Christmas presents to loved ones this year, you’d better hurry. The UK’s Post Office has compiled a full list of delivery deadlines for 2024 – and the earliest one is tomorrow.

Big names like Royal Mail, Evri, DPD and Parcel Force are among the firms on its list for deliveries inside the UK, with the Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed service offering the latest ‘recommended posting date’ of December 23. However, if you want to use Royal Mail for sending second class post, the Post Office urges you to act tomorrow.

December 18 is its last advised cut-off, which also includes signed-for deliveries. “Get your cards, gifts and greetings there in time for Christmas,” the UK Post Office encourages.

“Check the latest recommended posting dates for all UK and international services. As always, our advice is to post early and avoid the rush.” For Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 services, Brits are urged to send parcels by December 21 and December 20, respectively.

DPD’s Next day and Next Day by 12 gifts should also be sent by December 21, but this excludes a few select postcodes. These include the following:

Similarly, parcels set to be delivered with Evri’s Standard Tracked should be sent by midday on December 20, while Next Day Tracked gifts can be sent 24 hours later at midday on December 21. However, the complete list of delivery services and their posting deadlines is below.

• Parcelforce Worldwide express24. expressAM – December 20

• Parcelforce Worldwide express48 and express48 Large – December 19

• Royal Mail 2nd Class and 2nd Class Signed For – December 18

• Royal Mail 1st Class and 1st Class Signed For – December 20

• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed – December 23

• Royal Mail Tracked 24 – December 21

• Royal Mail Tracked 48 – December 20

• DPD Next Day and Next Day by 12 – December 21 (*most postcodes)

• Evri Standard Tracked – December 20 by midday

• Evri Next Day Tracked – December 21 by midday