For Royal Mail, the main deadline for Second Class is December 18. First Class? You’ve got until December 20. That’s cutting it fine—but doable.
Evri is a little more generous. Their standard courier deadline is December 23. But don’t get cocky. They’re famous for “tracking” that sometimes just vanishes.
Want to send a card to Australia? Royal Mail’s deadline is December 9. For Europe, it’s December 16. So if you’ve got relatives Down Under, post now or risk a very grumpy WhatsApp message on Christmas morning.
The quirky truth about “last posting”
Here’s a funny detail: Royal Mail actually over-delivers every year. They process over 20 million parcels in December. That’s like posting the entire population of the Netherlands. Each parcel gets a helpful little barcode—and yet, we still lose them in the cupboard under the stairs.
Evri, on the other hand, has a reputation for adventurous deliveries. One customer reported their parcel arriving via a neighbour three streets away. It’s not lost—it’s just on a mini road trip.
So why do we love this panic? Because it’s a shared madness. Everyone in the UK suddenly becomes a logistics expert. “I’ll post it on the 19th, but only if I catch the 4pm collection.” It’s absurd, and we do it every year.
