Isle of Man Post Office is advising Customers to post early to ensure that their cards and gifts arrive with loved ones before Christmas day. Mails Managing Director, Malcolm MacPherson said ‘Last year the snow and ice caused severe disruption to postal services throughout the British Isles in the lead up to Christmas. We don’t know whether we’ll face the same again this year, but why take the risk? It’s our busiest time of the year and I strongly advise our Customers to post in good time just in case we do have severe weather again’. Airmail bound to South and Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East, Australia and New Zealand should be sent no later than December 5th, and mail destined to the USA and Canada should be posted by December 9th. European airmail should be sent by the 12th December. For friends and family of HM Forces personnel, mail must be sent by December 2nd for operational BFPOs and no later than December 15th for static BFPOs. Don’t forget friends and family can continue to send letters and parcels up to 2kg free of charge to any BFPO address. The latest posting date for sending letters, large letters and packets to the UK and Channel Islands is Wednesday 21st December. The final day for using the Special Delivery next-day guaranteed and Parcelforce next-day services is December 22nd, although Special Delivery Next Day with a Saturday Guarantee is available for people wanting to post last minute gifts on the 23rd December. Finally, the last posting date for sending mail locally is Friday 23rd December. To assist customers during this very busy period, our Douglas Mail Centre will be open to post parcels and packages from 09:00 to 19:00 hours Monday to Friday from December 5 until December 23. However, items need to be posted before 18:45 to ensure despatch to the UK and overseas that evening. Any items posted after this time will be despatched the following day. Customers should also note this posting counter will not be open on Christmas Eve. The separate mail and parcel collection counter at Douglas Mail Centre will also be extending its opening hours: Open from 07:00 to 21:30 hours Monday to Friday from December 5 to December 23. To ensure your parcel is ready for collection, customers are advised to wait until after 18:00 hours before collecting their item. Please note Douglas Mail Centre will close at 16:00 hours on Christmas Eve for the collection of parcels. Opening hours at the delivery offices in Peel, Ramsey and Ballasalla are the same as normal year round times. For great gift ideas, The Post Shop situated in Regent Street has plenty of Manx-themed gifts, as well as packaging and wrapping materials so that you can Pick your present, Pack it up and Post it all in one shop. You can also purchase our Christmas stamps and presentation packs, featuring illustrations of winter birds by local wildlife artist, Jeremy Paul at any post office. Finally, you can help us this Christmas by making sure you address your mail correctly by ensuring the postcode is included – this makes a real difference to how quickly we can process your mail. Information about last posting dates, addressing standards, advice on wrapping and packing can be found on the Christmas page of our website – iompost.com/christmas -Ends-