Royal Mail strike: December 2022 dates and details of last post for Christmas

What is the last date for Christmas cards and parcels to be sent via Royal Mail?

You missed the deadline for the mail to arrive in time for Christmas. Royal Mail urged customers to “allow plenty of time” for postings this year, advising that Class 2 items should be sent by December 19 and Class 1 by December 21. The deadline for Special Delivery and Tracked Guaranteed Shipments was December 22nd.

however special shipments with the company’s “Saturday Guarantee” can be sent on December 23rd.

Why are Royal Mail workers taking industrial action?

The dispute between the Postal Service and the CWU, which represents more than 100,000 of Royal Mail’s 140,000 workers, centers on pay and conditions.

In light of galloping inflation, the CWU claims the company’s postal workers deserve a pay rise to match the price hike. UK inflation topped 11 percent last month, the highest in 41 years.

They are also angry at changes to working conditions that Royal Mail bosses want to introduce, including a seven-day-a-week parcel service which would cut letter deliveries to five days, increased automation of parcel and letter sorting and later end timesto allow for multiple next-day deliveries.

Royal Mail says the company is losing £1m a day and that without radical change the company has no future. Bosses have threatened redundancies and the possible collapse of the company if striking workers fail to make concessions.