MAIL heading for Western Europe should be posted by tomorrow (Monday, December 13) at the latest if it is to reach its destination in time for Christmas, the Isle of Man Post Office is reminding its customers.

Airmail bound to the USA, Canada, Japan and Eastern Europe should have been posted by Friday (December 10) to guarantee it would get there for December 25.

For friends and family of HM Forces personnel, mail must be sent by December 16 for static British Forces Post Offices (BFPOs) and friends and family can continue to send letters and parcels up to 2kg free of charge to any BFPO address.

The last posting date for sending letters, large letters and packets to the UK is December 21 with Parcelforce 48 being December 22. The final day for using Special Delivery next-day guaranteed service for both UK and local delivery, Parcelforce next-day as well as sending post locally is December 23.

To assist customers during this very busy period, the Douglas Sorting Office will be open to post parcels and packages from 9am to 7pm Monday to Friday until December 23.

However, items need to be posted before 6.45pm at Douglas Sorting Office to ensure dispatch to the UK and overseas that evening.

Any items posted after this time will be dispatched the following day. Customers should also note this posting counter will close at 12.30pm on Christmas Eve.

The mail and parcel collection counter at Douglas Sorting Office has also extended its opening hours - it will be open from 7am to 9.30pm Monday to Friday, until December 23.

To ensure parcels are ready for collection, customers are advised to wait until after 6pm before visiting Douglas Sorting Office to collect their item.

Douglas Sorting Office will close at 6pm on both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

Isle of Man Post Office is asking customers to address mail correctly by ensuring the postcode is included – this makes a real difference to how quickly the organisation can process the mail.