Latvijas Pasts reminds that pre-holiday mail must be prepared and sent in time; correct delivery address is very important

08.12.2014

End of the year is traditionally the busiest time in post offices around the world. Christmas and New Year is also a period when many foreign postal company employees have the days off. Therefore, in order for a shipment to reach the addressee before the holidays, it is very important to get it ready and sent in a timely manner. An equally necessary condition for the timely delivery of mail is to make sure that the delivery address supplied is correct and the value of the stamps affixed is suitable for mailing the particular shipment.

The first and foremost thing that customers should take into account during the busy period before Christmas and New Year is getting the mail ready to be shipped out in a timely manner. At this time of the year, postal operators of several large countries set special deadlines by which shipments must be delivered to their countries in order to reach the addressees before the holidays. So far, this information has been provided by countries such as China and the United States: letters should be delivered to the US by December 15, while the deadline for packages is even shorter – December 13.

To ensure that the addressee receives holiday mail and packages with gifts in time for Christmas, it is equally essential to specify the accurate address: an important part is not only the correctly written street name, house or apartment number, but also the zip code. Although the shipment with an incorrect zip code will reach the addressee sooner or later, that shipment, however, will travel longer as mail is primarily sorted based on the zip code specified.

The sender must also make sure that stamps of a suitable denomination are affixed to the shipment: if the mail is processed in the post office, the needed value will be accurately determined by the postal employees, but if the sender affixes the stamps himself or herself, it is recommended to check the information in the pricelist available on the website of Latvijas Pasts or use the calculator, which is a convenient tool for calculating the shipment cost.

Latvijas Pasts reminds the little residents of Latvia to remember to send a letter to Father Christmas and urges their parents to make sure that the correct address is indicated on the letter and stamps with suitable denomination are affixed, so that the letter successfully reaches the addressee.

All letters sent by children to Father Christmas will be delivered by Latvijas Pasts to the mailbox of Father Christmas’s office in Latvia. If the recipient indicated on the letter is Santa Claus or Grandfather Frost, the letter will go to Finland or Russia, respectively. For the letter to reach Father Christmas’s mailbox, the correct address must be indicated and stamps with suitable denomination must be affixed. A regular Class A letter to Father Christmas in Latvia can be sent using a stamp with a denomination of EUR 0.57, and a stamp with a denomination of EUR 0.50 must be used for sending a regular Class B letter. A regular Class A letter to Santa Claus in Finland will cost EUR 0.78, while a regular Class B letter will cost EUR 0.71. A stamp with a denomination of EUR 0.85 must be used for sending a regular Class A letter to Grandfather Frost in Russia, and the cost of mailing a regular Class B letter will be EUR 0.78.

Father Christmas’s addresses: 
Ziemassvētku vecīša birojs, 
Smiltnieki, 
Ziemupe, Vērgales pagasts, 
Pāvilostas novads, 
Latvia 
LV-3463

Ziemassvētku vecītis Rūķupē
Ziemupes pasts,
Ziemupe, Vērgales pagasts,
Pāvilostas novads,
Latvia
LV-3463

Santa Claus’s address: 
Santa Claus 
Arctic Circle 
96930 
Rovaniemi 
Finland 

Grandfather Frost’s address:
162340
Россия
Вологодская область
Город Великий Устюг
Дом Деда Мороза

To make sure that Christmas greetings reach the addressees on time, Latvijas Pasts urges not to put off the mailing to the last minute.

About SJSC Latvijas Pasts

Latvijas Pasts ensures the widest availability of postal services throughout Latvia by maintaining more than 600 post offices. The primary function of the company is provision of the universal postal service; Latvijas Pasts also provides commercial transport, express mail, payment, press subscription, retail and philatelic services. Latvijas Pasts is a wholly State-owned company with more than 4,200 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by TNS Latvia, one of the leading market, social and media research agencies in Latvia. In turn, the quality measurements of the cross-border deliveries are provided within the framework of the International Post Corporation through the intermediary of the research companies TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.

Additional information:
Gundega Vārpa,
Head of the External Communications Department
Phone: +371 67608505
E-mail: gundega.varpa@pasts.lv
twitter.com/latvijas_pasts; facebook.com/latvijas.pasts