Royal Mail confirms final dates for Christmas deliveries and prices for festive period | Personal Finance | Finance

People planning to send gifts and Christmas cards over the coming weeks may want to note these key Royal Mail delivery dates.

Britons have been asked to send their goods out as soon as possible to ensure they arrive in time for Christmas Day.

These are the last dates to send mail in time for Christmas and how much it could cost, according to the Royal Mail.

Christmas deadline for class two – 18 December

Any letters or parcels with second class stamps should be sent out by December 18th. The cost of a second class stamp increased from 2 October, now costing 75p.

Standard and large letters using this can weigh up to 100g, and large letters can weigh up to 750g using other stamps.

Standard letters cannot exceed 24cm x 16.5cm x 5mm and large letters cannot exceed 35.3cm x 25cm x 2.5cm.

Letters sent via the ‘Signed For’ service, which are not tracked, will cost £2.25. Sending a large letter via the normal service will cost £1.55.

Parcel costs vary depending on size and weight, with costs starting at £2.99. The Tracked 48 service costs at least £3.29.

Christmas prime deadline – 20th December

For letters, the cost of standard delivery is £1.25 and £1.95 for a large letter. Upgrading to the ‘Signed For’ service will cost £2.75.

For parcels, it costs £3.69 to send first class and for a Tracked 24 service, it will cost £3.99. These are initial costs and larger parcels will cost more to ship.

Christmas special delivery deadline – 21/22 December

The last day for the Special Delivery Saturday service is December 22nd but this comes with an additional charge.

The starting price for this service is:

• 100g – £7.35
• 500g – £8.15
• 1kg – £9.45
• 2kg – £12.15
• 10kg – £16.45
• 20kg – £20.45.

These prices are for packages with compensation up to £750. Higher compensation prices are between £1,000 and £2,500.

Customers can also find an online price for each compensation bracket that is slightly cheaper than these prices. All prices are available on the Royal Mail website here.

International postage

People wanting to send cards or gifts overseas will need to post a little earlier. Prices vary depending on where one is shipping goods. To find out what this might cost, one can check with their local Post Office or via the Royal Mail website here.

Here are the deadlines for sending mail to all parts of the world:

• December 6 – Australia, Caribbean, China, Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Far and Middle East and New Zealand
• 7 December – Cyprus and Malta
• December 8 – Greece, Eastern Europe (excluding the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia) and Turkey
• December 11 – Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and the United States
• December 13 – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovakia and Switzerland.

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