Last posting dates for Christmas
Howard Lake | 30 October 2008 | Blogs
The Royal Mail is reminding organisations of the last posting dates for Christmas. They are:
1st class: Saturday 20 December
2nd class: Thursday 18 December
UK Special Delivery: Tuesday 23 December
Airmail dates are 12, 10 and 5 December, depending on the country being sent to, but I imagine there aren’t too many charities using Airmail for direct marketing campaigns.
Royal Mail’s reminder accompanied news of a survey by TNS for the company which shows that businesses that send a Christmas Card to customers really do enjoy repeat business as a result.
61% of people who received a business Christmas card were prompted to make a purchase, and 80% of them spent up to £100. Not surprisingly Royal Mail contrasts this with the 63% of individuals who opened but immediately deleted seasonal greetings from organisations via email. Of those who received the posted card, 55% of them displayed it at home amongst personal Christmas cards.
I’m not too convinced by that survey – what else would you do with an email except delete it after reading it? And what about the environmental impact of sending printed Christmas cards?
Bah humbug. I’ll carry on sending Christmas greetings by email.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.