When is the deadline to post your Christmas packages from the Netherlands?
As the festive season creeps closer, it’s time to start sending cards and presents from the Netherlands to friends and family abroad. With how busy the holidays can get, it’s important to keep Dutch Christmas post deadlines in mind to make sure your gifts make it under the tree in time.
Christmas shipping deadlines in the Netherlands
Want to know when you should have your cards and presents ready to send them out in time? Here are the guidelines from the biggest postal delivery services in the Netherlands, to ensure your post for Christmas arrives before the big day.
PostNL final Christmas posting dates for 2024
Due to staff shortages, PostNL delivery times may be longer than they were in previous years, especially during the holiday period. To make sure that your Christmas post gets where it needs to go in good time, the Dutch postal service has compiled a list of deadlines for different destinations based on the type of post.
For letters, cards and packages within the Netherlands, the delivery time is usually within 24 hours, but it would be better to err on the side of caution and send your post off a few days earlier to ensure it gets to its destination before Christmas.
If you’re sending a parcel to someone and want it to arrive before Christmas, these are the final handover dates for the following destinations:
- France, Germany or Luxembourg - December 18
- Austria, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland or United Kingdom - December 17
- Italy - December 16
- Rest of Europe - December 11
- USA, Canada, Japan, Australia or New Zealand - December 6
- Rest of the world - December 2
To have letters and cards delivered before Christmas, PostNL recommends you hand them over before the following dates for standard delivery:
- Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg or Switzerland - December 11
- Rest of Europe - December 4
- USA, Canada, Japan, Australia or New Zealand - November 28
- Rest of the world - November 20
However, if you’ve already missed the deadline for sending your Christmas mail, you can opt for priority delivery which has later deadlines between December 4 and December 17.
DHL and UPS Christmas post delivery
Other postal services, such as DHL and UPS can also be used to ship your Christmas gifts within the Netherlands and to your home country. While no official deadlines have been given as of yet, DHL has an average delivery time of two to eight days for countries within the EU, so keep this in mind when you’re planning when to hand your Christmas post over.
While UPS also doesn’t list their official delivery deadlines for Christmas, there is a handy tool on their website that allows you to check the expected price and delivery time for your package by inserting your location and the intended destination. This means you can check exactly how long it will take so you know when you should expect to send it.
Plan ahead for Christmas packages from the Netherlands
The suggested shipping deadlines given by delivery companies are not guarantees that your package will arrive on time. There could be delays within the Netherlands with the large amount of deliveries during the holidays. Also, if your post is being sent to international destinations, the final posting dates don’t take into account the destination’s delivery times. With all this in mind, it’s best to send off your Christmas packages and letters from the Netherlands as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
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