It’s that time of year again when I need to warn you that the run up to Christmas will be a mad rush. I know that you do not need reminding, or informing of this… we face the same issue each year. However, I always like to give you a gentle nudge that time is flying away from us and I wouldn’t want you to miss out on anything.
Royal Mail will undoubtedly face pre-Christmas delays due to excess packages to deliver and new, temporary staffing. Whilst I know they will try to avoid it, it is unfortunately a fact we need to take into consideration at this time of year. So while I am and will continue to ship on time you should consider the following information when making your purchases from me, if you wish to receive items safely before Christmas.
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Royal Mail’s Latest Recommended Post Dates for Christmas 2012 |
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UK Mail |
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Second Class & Recorded |
18th December |
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First Class & Recorded |
20th December |
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Special Delivery Saturday Guarantee |
21st December |
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Special Delivery |
22nd December |
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British Forces |
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Airmail to operational BFPOs |
30th November |
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Airmail to static BFPOs |
14th December |
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International Airmail (including insured services) |
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Asia, Australia, Far East (inc. Japan), New Zealand |
5th December |
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Africa, Caribbean, Central & South America, Middle East |
7th December |
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Eastern Europe, Canada, USA |
10th December |
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Western Europe |
12th December |
Full details from Royal Mail can be found here.
I also advise you to consider my own shipping terms, which state the following information for in-house dispatch time frames;
When selecting your rate, consider... I ship on Monday, Wednesday and Friday before 9am only. Please order before 5:30pm the day before to ensure I can ship on time. Delays at busy periods will be notified. Usually items take the following amount of time to arrive;
- UK 2nd Class takes 3-5 working days
- UK 1st class takes 1-3 working days.
- UK Recorded takes 1-3 working days.
- UK Special Delivery should arrive next day before 1pm.
- UK Special Delivery Saturday Guarantee should arrive on Saturday before 1pm.
- Overseas Airmail takes 7-15 working days.
Working days are Monday to Friday only.
Please also note that UK items are not classed as lost by Royal Mail until the 15th working day after dispatch and Airmail on the 30th working day after dispatch. I am bound to their policy on this and these are my cut off dates. In both cases of any possible delayed post it is important to check in the following locations; with your neighbours, just in case anyone took this in for you, sometimes people forget if they don't see neighbours the same day. It may also be possible that the postman did attempt to deliver the item already, but failed to leave you a card stating that he has taken it back to your local collection depot or post office, so it may be worth checking if they have it there waiting. If you are still having issues with delivery please email me with your order number and details and I will contact you as soon as I am available.
And finally my Christmas Holiday Dates:
I will be closed and uncontactable from the 21st December at 11am to the 2nd January at 9am. During this time only my main website www.sarastexturecrafts.comwill be open for orders, however you can contact me via any of my selling forums and email. All phone calls and emails will be answered on my return.
I hope this has been helpful, informative and not too early… I’m thinking primarily of those earlier cut off dates for overseas and UK forces. I will give you a further gentle reminder closer to the holidays just in case.
My advice as always is to order a month or so earlier to beat the rush and avoid disappointment!
Sara.
