Life Tips Daily

Christmas will be here in no time and if you have to mail anything out of your city or country, you may want to pay attention to some of the following.

Consult the post office and postal service
My local post office produces a flyer every year that gives me the deadlines for mailing card and shipping gifts to other countries and I find it handy. I take all the dates on that flyer that apply to me and put them on my calendar and then I give myself reminders so that the due date doesn’t hit without me having planned what to buy as a gift.

If you’re a last minute sort of person, and you don’t mind spending (a lot) extra, there are services in place that guarantee (in many but not all cases) that your package will be received before Christmas. Keep in mind that not all services can guarantee this, especially if they have less than one week’s notice (and you may have to pay dearly for the convenience!). In any case be sure to ask before assuming.

Use padded envelopes over boxes when you can
From personal experience, post offices charge more if packages are sent in boxes: the dimensions of the package are considered as well as its weight. With a padded envelope, the dimensions are still important but you usually have a smaller dimension for the “height” which helps. Of course, not all packages can be sent in a padded envelope so you’ll have to use your judgment. If you ever have a choice, select the latter. Another thing you can do is bring both a box and an envelope to the post office, place your items in the box/envelope and have the clerk tell you which would be less expensive to ship (you may want to do this during non-peak hours to avoid the glares of other harried customers!).

Mail in batches when you can
This is from a time-saving point of view more than anything. Once you have your trusty list of due dates for mailing letters and packages abroad, you can choose to write cards in batches by location of the recipient. When it comes time to mail them, it’s handy to mail all the cards going to a particular place at the same time. That way you have fresh on your mind the postage required and you know that all the people in that area will receive their cards at approximately the same time (which may be important if you’re mailing to family or friends who tend to talk among themselves!).

When it comes to Christmas and mailing cards or gifts, what tips keep you sane and organized?