Christmas shoppers have been warned they are running out of time to send cards and gifts across the country as Australia Post releases its festive season deadlines.
The national service has issued dates that parcels and letters must be sent by in order to guarantee they will arrive at their destination in time for Christmas Day.
The deadline for standard parcel postage has elapsed in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, while the other states have three days – until December 12 – to send parcels.
WA and NT residents can still send parcels by express post up to December 14, while the express deadline is December 19 for other states.
Cards and letters must be sent in the regular post by December 15 if they are headed to an interstate address or by December 19 if they are travelling within the state.
Meanwhile, standard post deadlines for interstate Christmas deliveries have elapsed.
Friday is the final day to send mail by express post to New Zealand, the US, UK and major European destinations, but it is now highly unlikely any post to Asia will be delivered by Christmas.
Australia Post executive general manager Gary Starr said the service had delivered 52 million parcels in December 2021, and early activity suggested this festive season would be even bigger.
“Many customers have already taken advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday for their Christmas shopping. The earlier you can get it done the better, to ensure all parcels make it under your Christmas tree on time,” Mr Starr said.
“For those who are still finalising their gifts, we’ll continue to do our best to ensure deliveries arrive quickly and safely.”
The postal service was equipped for the extra demands of this time of year, Mr Starr said, after periods during the pandemic where delays mounted due to short-staffing.
“We’re adding more capacity to our workforce, more delivery vehicles and more freighter aircraft. We’re also extending our deliveries into Saturdays and later hours during weekdays,” he said.
“We’ve handled significant volumes at this time of year before and we’ve been preparing all year for another big Christmas to ensure things run as smoothly as possible.
“If you miss the deadlines, we will still do our very best to get those presents delivered in time, but it’s important to know that they may not arrive until after Christmas.”
