Christmas delivery deadlines revealed for shoppers and small businesses

Australian small businesses and consumers have been urged to get their Christmas plans in place early this year, with high parcel volumes and supply chain problems expected to slow deliveries down.

Australia Post and courier companies have released their Christmas deadlines ahead of December, encouraging businesses and consumers alike to send goods before the cut off date to guarantee delivery before Christmas Day.

Here are the Christmas dates for major parcel delivery services.

Australia Post

Consumers in all states and territories excluding Western Australia and the Northern Territory have until December 13 to organise regular parcel post via Australia Post, and until December 20 to send anything via Express Post.

In Western Australia and the Northern Territory, consumers have until the earlier deadlines of December 8 to send parcels by standard post and December 15 to send express post parcels.

Australia Post has advised people living outside of metro areas to post even earlier to ensure parcels arrive before Christmas.

Businesses dispatching orders have slightly more time to send their goods to customers, with the cut off date for same-state standard post in every state and territory, excluding Victoria, set at December 17. The deadline for express parcels is December 21.

In Victoria, the deadline for regular post is December 16 and express is December 21.

If a business sends parcels interstate, the dates will vary, with earlier deadlines set for remote destinations, such as Western Australia and Tasmania. You can find the full list here.

For businesses sending parcels overseas, deadlines depend on the region and country the parcel is being sent to. A full list of dates is available here.

StarTrack

StarTrack has three types of services available to businesses, and each has different Christmas cut-off dates.

Businesses using Startrack Courier to send orders to customers have until December 21 to pre-book same-day deliveries for December 23 and 24.

StarTrack is also running its one-day and next-day delivery services through StarTrack Next Flight until December 25.

StarTrack Premium services will continue operating on December 25. There are a range of deadlines for Premium services that depend on the location and destination of parcels. Find out more here.

CouriersPlease

CouriersPlease has set its Christmas delivery deadlines based on the state businesses are sending parcels to and from.

For example, a parcel sent from Sydney destined for Melbourne must be organised before December 10. Whereas a parcel from Sydney headed for Perth must be sent by December 3. The full list is available here.

Sendle

Businesses using the courier service Sendle have until December 3 to post long-distance national parcels, including to Western Australia, Far North Queensland and regional areas.

Parcels destined for interstate metro areas must be sent by December 10, while same-city deliveries have a cut off date of December 13.

International deliveries are separated into five zones, starting with December 1 for Asia Pacific and ending with December 10 for New Zealand.

You can find more information here.