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Nick Landon, Royal Mail’s Chief Commercial Officer, said the firm is well-prepared to meet the massive demand the firm expects the festive season will bring in 2024
Image: PA)
Royal Mail has announced the final posting dates for Christmas cards and presents in 2024 – leaving Brits just a few weeks to send vital correspondences.
The postal service’s busiest period started this month, with the roughly 12 weeks between October 1 and December 24 typically seeing the firm courier up to 500 million pieces of mail. To ensure that everyone’s mail arrives in time for the big day, Royal Mail chiefs enforce a deadline that is usually a week or two out of Christmas Day.
The deadlines are set for each different type of letter and package depending on the class of stamp used to post them, with different rules introduced for tracked, first and second-class deliveries. Deadlines start with second-class mail, which takes the longest to arrive, with the first coming in fewer than 50 days.
The last recommended posting date for each type of postage is as follows:
- Second Class and Second Class Signed For: Wednesday, December 18
- First Class, First Class Signed For and Royal Mail Tracked 48: Friday, December 20
- Royal Mail Tracked 24: Saturday, December 21
- Special Delivery Guaranteed: Monday, December 23
On top of issuing its final postage warnings, Royal Mail has announced that it plans to add a slew of extra deliveries to accommodate the increased load of packages and letters over the next few weeks. Additional deliveries will run until 8pm “to meet the increased demand in the run-up to Christmas and the growing number of next day parcels”.
The company will also increase its processing operations on Sundays to help manage the surge caused on Mondays by Britons shopping over the weekend. Nick Landon, Royal Mail’s Chief Commercial Officer, said the company is well-prepared for what is usually its busiest season, with tens of thousands of additional staff set to work this December.
He said: “Every year we pull out all the stops to deliver Christmas for our customers. We will have an additional 16,000 seasonal workers and almost 4,000 new vans, trucks and trailers added to the fleet in time for Christmas. It’s our busiest time of year and we plan all year round to help ensure we deliver the best possible service for UK consumers and businesses.”
