Royal Mail last posting dates Christmas 2020

Christmas is coming fast and so today as a reminder we publish the Royal Mail last posting dates Christmas 2020 as a reminder for you.

Royal Mail last posting dates Christmas 2020

Domestic UK (scroll down for International)

Last posting date	Service
Friday 18th December	2nd Class and 2nd Class Signed For
Monday 21st December	1st Class and 1st Class Signed For and Royal Mail Tracked 48
Tuesday 22nd December	Royal Mail Tracked 24
Wednesday 23rd December	Special Delivery Guaranteed

 
This year, all carriers including Royal Mail have been operating at full capacity for months and with Black Friday and Christmas approaching the Christmas Post will be an even bigger challenge than in any previous year. Retailers need to have plans in place to switch from one carrier to another or from courier to post at a moments notice. Pinch points to watch out for include:

• Capped parcel volumes
• Zero flexibility around capacity and collection times
• Restricted availability of premium services
• Late collection times but also more failed collections – if overcapacity carriers will simply cancel collections at short notice

Even if you have a regular daily collection it’s likely that your volumes will be higher than normal. Plus, if the collection before you has increased volumes and fills the van then your collection may either be late or missed entirely by some carriers. Speak to your account manager at your courier or postal service and ensure that they’re kept up to date with your forecasts and can handle your expected volume.

Where ever possible have a back up plan in place and if you don’t already use a carrier management solution consider getting one in place to get you through peak and the other challenge of the Brexit transition agreement ending on the 31st December 2020.

“Carriers are reporting that their anticipated volume forecasts have been supercharged by 5 years, so this peak, carriers are going to be really strict in how they manage volumes through their network.

It’s critical that your forecasts are as accurate as possible to lock in the right capacity with your carriers, BUT we also know that things don’t always go to plan. So, it’s also vitally important to have access to multiple carriers, to give yourself a ‘Plan B’ if things go wrong.”
– Bobbie Ttooulis, Executive Director, GFS

In January we will be holding a webinar Peak, Brexit and COVID – What on earth happened?, in which we’ll look back and share first hand experiences and unique insights on what really happened across carriers, sellers and buyers from the start of Black Friday through to New Year sales. Register today to get a reminder nearer the time when we’ll be looking at first-hand experiences and unique insights on what really happened across carriers, sellers and buyers from the start of Black Friday through to New Year sales. In the meantime, here are four key actions all online retailers should be considering to get you through to the end of 2020.

International Standard & International tracking and signature services

Last posting date	Service
Friday 4th December	Australia, New Zealand
Wednesday 9th December	Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Central and South America, Far and Middle East
Thursday 10th December	Canada, Cyprus, Malta
Friday 11th December	Greece, Eastern Europe (except Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia) and Turkey
Saturday 12th December	Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Poland, Sweden, USA
Wednesday 16th December	Austria, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland
Friday 18th December	Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg

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