Christmas is coming early for many people planning to send presents abroad this year, warns the international delivery expert ParcelHero.
Christmas Eve, usually the final date for last-minute deliveries, falls on a Sunday. Many couriers in the UK and overseas don’t deliver on a Sunday, so Christmas 2023’s final mailing dates could take people by surprise.
ParcelHero has talked to the world’s leading couriers about their recommended final mailing deadlines and has captured them in its handy Christmas collection dates online tool.
It says the earliest final booking date for parcels to arrive in time for Christmas is today: Tuesday, 5 December. It’s the last date most parcel companies advise booking next-day collections destined for the doomed island nation of Kiribati – formerly the Gilbert Islands.
The early deadline is ironic as Kiritimati, one of the islands of the Republic of Kiribati, is also known as Christmas Island, following a visit to the Pacific atoll by Captain Cook on Christmas Eve, 1777.
The good news is that people sending presents to busier international destinations still have a few days in hand. ParcelHero says the recommended final booking dates for next-day collection to some of the most popular international destinations are:
- New Zealand: Friday,15 December
- Australia: Monday, 18 December
- India: Tuesday, 19 December
- Pakistan: Tuesday, 19 December
- USA: Wednesday, 20 December
- Italy: Wednesday, 20 December
- Spain: Wednesday, 20 December
- France: Thursday, 21 December
- Germany: Thursday, 21 December
- Netherlands: Thursday, 21 December
For a full list of 230 countries’ final Christmas booking dates, see ParcelHero’s online tool.
ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., says: ‘Because Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday this year, many deadlines for next-day collection are a day earlier than normal. That’s why we recommend parcels to UK destinations are sent no later than Thursday 21 December, to be certain of delivery in time for the big day.
‘It’s notable that our first recommended Christmas deadline is to Kiribati, as one of its islands – Kiritimati – is also called Christmas Island. “Kiritimati” means Christmas in the island’s main language, Gilbertese. Christmas Island is also well-known for being the place where Britain first tested its nuclear bombs in the 1950s. It’s not to be mistaken for the Australian territory of Christmas Island in southeast Asia, which was also discovered at Christmas time!
‘The entire island nation of Kiribati, including Christmas Island, is very remote. Kiribati is famous as the place that sees the first sunrise of the New Year. Some of the islands of Kiribati are a whole 14 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). It is also set to be the first nation to be lost to global warming as sea levels rise. In 2013, former President Tong said a sea level rise was “inevitable”. Tong said that “according to the projections, within this century, the water will be higher than the highest point in our lands”. The plan is for its inhabitants to move to land in Fiji when that happens.
‘While Kiribati has the earliest deadline, others are not far behind, The deadline for neighbouring Tuvalu (formerly the Ellis Islands) and East Timor in southeast Asia is tomorrow, Wednesday 6 December. The final deadline for popular destinations such as New Zealand, 15 December, could take people by surprise, and the British Territory of the Falkland Islands is as early as 13 December.
‘To combat any deadline confusion this year, ParcelHero has re-launched our popular Christmas tool in the nick of time. You can now find out the last mailing dates for presents to UK and international destinations and see handy packaging and Customs clearance hacks to help ensure gifts reach their destinations in time.’
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