Many people are dissapointed this year because things that they were relying on to arrive by Christmas may not arrive by tomorrow, Christmas Eve. Let’s look at some possible reasons why.
Royal Mail Postal Strike
I know this was back in November but the pressure of undelivered mail ran straight into the busiest time of year.
Recent weather in Europe
Both Royal Mail and the major on-line retailers are unable to deliver everything they want to before Christmas.
Britain's wintery roads delay deliveries
FedEx have posted on-line that their Paris hub has such bad difficulties that they cannot guarantee next-day delivery. Anything being carried in Eurostar has clearly been delayed. Many UK airports have closed. Torrential rain here in Spain has meant a flood (sorry for the pun) of accidents on the roads. Here in Andalucia, the locals are simply not prepared for several days of continuous cats-and-dogs and labels have come off parcels, ink has run, tempers have run even higher.
Timing of Christmas
Royal Mail's Christmas Images
Is there a good day of the week on which for Christmas to fall? As far as deliveries go, Monday is probably the best day, the previous Friday is a working day and people can still do their last-minute shopping on Saturday. This year, with Christmas on a Friday and many European businesses already closed, Thursday looks folorn for either deliveries or collections. We miss the next Monday Christmas because of the 2012 leap year. Then there are few days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve before everything closes again. In Spain, everything closes once more for Three Kings, the twelfth day of Christmas on 6th January.
Conclusion
Many people, including us, have left things to the last moment because the credit crunch has meant that we are poorer or busier than we were this time last year. Even our own Christmas Box didn’t arrive on time because it didn’t make the final shipment before Christmas – never mind Cheddar is just as good in January! However, Royal Mail’s last first class posting date for post within the UK was 18 December and, although some of our customers in Spain have collected parcels posted on that Friday, not everything has got through for which we are very sorry.
Buy now for Xmas 2010
However, realistically, customers expecting items before Christmas need to order in November to ensure delivery in December when you take into account the weather, strikes and even stockholding positions. If you’ve got some money left over after Christmas, why not raid the January sales and get next year’s present cheap and in good time.
Happy Christmas to you all. Feliz Fiestas a todos.
