Postal items must be delivered by a certain date in a number of countries in order for addresses to receive them before Christmas

Postal establishments from dozens of countries have posted in the International Post Corporation’s system the dates by which they must receive postal items in the particular countries so that the items can be delivered to final addressees before Christmas. This condition applies to the receipt of the item at the postal establishment, not to crossing the border and registering the item at the relevant airport: it should be expected that it can take several days from the time when the item is accepted at the airport to the time when it is received at the postal establishment. This information is important when planning to send holiday presents outside Latvia so that addressees in the respective countries can receive them in time. Meanwhile, both local and international items must be received at Latvijas Pasts by the 20^th of December 2020 in order for the company to be able to deliver them before Christmas.

Preparing for the end of the year, which is marked by a multi-fold increase in the volume of postal items around the world, Latvijas Pasts encourages customers to make purchases in local and foreign online stores and to send season’s greetings and presents in a timely manner so that the items can reach the addressees in Latvia and abroad before the upcoming holidays.

Postal establishments from dozens of countries have informed the International Post Corporation of the special deadlines by which they must receive postal items so that the items can be delivered further to addressees before Christmas. It should be noted that this refers to receiving the item at the postal establishment of a particular country, not to crossing the border and registering the item at the relevant airport: it should be expected that it can take several days from the time when the item is received at the airport to the time when it is received at the postal establishment. This information is very important for every customer when planning the route of their item. 

So far such information has been provided by postal establishments of about 30 different countries, but this number is likely to increase in the near future. An additional factor that has a negative impact on item delivery options and times this year is the influence of COVID-19 in terms of limiting passenger air transport which is used to deliver items and restricting delivery conditions in certain countries.

Postal establishments in different countries have set different delivery dates before Christmas: there are countries whose postal establishments must receive all types of postal items by a certain date in order to be able to deliver them on time, and there are countries whose postal establishments have determined different delivery dates for different types of postal items. For example, the Estonian post must receive letters, small packets and parcels by the 14^th of December, the Lithuanian post must receive letters and small packets by the 15^th of December and parcels – by the 16^th of December, the Finnish post expects letters and small packets by the 19^th of December and parcels by the 21^st of December, while the Canadian post has set the following deadlines: the 4^th of December for small packets, the 12^th of December for packages and the 14^th of December for letters.

In order to be able to deliver all types of postal items to addressees in Latvia before Christmas, they must be received at Latvijas Pasts before the 20^th of December.

Detailed information on the countries whose postal establishments must receive items by certain dates for delivery before Christmas is available here. This information will be regularly updated on the Latvijas Pasts website and supplemented as necessary.

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 about 3,200 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by Kantar TNS, 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 Kantar TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.

Additional information:
Gundega Vārpa | Head of External Communications
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv; gundega.varpa@pasts.lv
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