As time draws on Santa is getting closer! What’s more last posting dates will continue to crop up and 22^nd November was Royal Mail’s last posting date for international surface mail to Western Europe.

You can see a full list of Royal Mail’s last posting dates for Christmas 2011 here: http://www.royalmail.com/greetings

Don’t worry of you missed this date as there are still other options available to you to ensure your presents and cards arrive to friends and relatives in the region.

For example you could use a courier service.

In fact did you know you could access DHL’s Euro Plus right up until Tuesday 13^th December? That gives you just under three more weeks to get sorted (which is good news if you haven’t even thought about Christmas shopping yet!)

What’s more using a courier service to deliver your Christmas parcels has further advantages. Electronic tracking of your parcel offers peace of mind by allowing you to keep tabs on its movement and identify when your item has been delivered.

Even better couriered parcels are probably not as expensive as you thought. The marketplace is now so competitive and the growth of parcel middlemen has meant prices are very reasonable. You can even use a courier if you only have one parcel to post.

As a reminder don’t leave it too late to get your Christmas parcels despatched, and to be sure it might be worth noting on your calendar that Tuesday 13^th December is the final posting date if you want to courier anything overseas.

OK, it may be November but did you know there are a little over 5 weeks until the big day. That’s just 37 sleeps meaning there’s not a massive amount of time left for shopping or despatching those presents.

You’ve still got a bit of time to think about sending parcels closer to home, but if you have friends and family abroad it may be time to start deciding how you will get their presents there on time, especially if you want to catch the cheaper distribution routes.

DHL offer some fantastic parcel products for sending international parcels.

Posting a parcel to Europe?

If you’re posting to Europe you can access DHL’s Euro Plus right up until Tuesday 13^th December.

As parcels are transported by road this is cheaper option than by air delivery. However it does have a longer delivery window – somewhere between 2-5 working days.

Posting a parcel to the rest of the world?

DHL by Air enables you to send parcels to just about every destination in the world. The delivery specification is 1-2 working days within Europe and 2-4 working days everywhere else.

The last posting date to access this service is also Tuesday 13^th December.

If you want a hassle free way to send your international Christmas parcels use a courier. They’re very flexible! Either save up all your parcels and arrange one collection, or if you want to clear some space book ad hoc collections as and when you need them. What’s more with a courier you have the added advantage of electronic tracking meaning you can be sure your gifts have arrived where they should be.

Happy Ch… Actually it is a bit early to be saying that just yet!

Are you starting to get into the Christmas spirit?

If you’re a retailer it’s likely you are preparing yourself for the busiest time of the year. What’s more if you have an ecommerce site or an eBay store you’ll probably be getting ready for some serious parcel distribution to fulfil all those orders.

How can a courier help?

Couriers offer lots of added value to businesses such as yours. At this busy time of the year one of the biggest advantages is they’ll collect parcels from an address you specify. This can be a real bonus especially if you have more items than usual to post.

Just imagine, instead of popping out on a cold, dark afternoon carrying an armful of parcels to the car the courier will collect directly from you.

A further bonus is a courier delivery comes with inclusive parcel tracking. This means you can follow the movement of your items as they move through the network, and confirm when they’ve been delivered. This information gives you peace of mind that you are in fact your fulfilling customer orders.

Do you fancy saving some money too? You can if you book your courier collection through a parcel middleman service. These on-line websites allow you to access the courier products of big name companies like City Link and Yodel only cheaper!

If you’ve never used a parcel middleman before they’re easy to find. Simply search “cheap parcel delivery” and you will find collectmyparcel.com.

Is it too early to wish you a Merry Christmas?