Order Your Christmas Labels Now To Avoid Delays

Here’s our despatch and delivery advice for Christmas 2021!

This year, a number of factors are affecting despatch and delivery times. More people than ever are shopping online and ongoing supply chain issues are causing delays in the manufacturing and delivery of all kinds of goods. Unfortunately, this includes some of our self adhesive labels, which means that it is more important than ever to order your Christmas labels early and to keep those all important despatch and delivery times in mind.

Why Do I Need To Order Christmas Labels Now?

Printing your own labels has a lot more steps than you might think and you need to allow enough time:

• For your order to be (made and) despatched AND delivered.
• To get a label template set up with your required design(s).
• For printing your label template onto your labels.
• To get your labels stuck onto your items.
• To get your labelled items sent off to their next destination.

We always despatch orders as quickly as possible but despatch and delivery times will inevitably get longer this Christmas for THREE reasons:

MORE PEOPLE ARE ORDERING LABELS
This causes manufacturing lead-times to get longer, which means it takes longer for made to order items to be despatched, while stocked items may become temporarily unavailable.

UPDATE Nov 2021: Usually, made to order items despatch in up to five working days. Currently, orders of 500+ sheets (except permanent white paper labels) are taking approximately 20 working days for despatch and are unlikely to be delivered before Christmas.

MORE ITEMS ARE BEING DELIVERED
The volume of items being delivered by Royal Mail and carrier companies at this time of year is extremely high. This puts pressure on delivery services and can cause delays.

We use Royal Mail’s first class service for small orders (up to 225 sheets) and this service always experiences delays in the lead up to Christmas. We strongly recommend upgrading smaller orders to our next day delivery option (although this service may also experience delays in December).

Ordering online is extremely popular this year and a number of companies (including Royal Mail) are still experiencing reduced service levels due to staff shortages caused by Covid restrictions.

SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES
There are a variety of supply chain issues affecting both the manufacture and delivery of all kinds of goods. We are seeing issues with some of our made to order items (with the exception of permanent white paper labels), which has extended lead-times to approximately 20 working days.

In other words, it has never been more important to make sure that you order your Christmas labels as early as possible.

What Are Your Current Despatch & Delivery Times?

SMALL ORDERS OF STOCKED ITEMS (25 sheet packs, up to 225 sheets)

• Same day despatch via Royal Mail’s first class service (Mon-Fri, up to 4pm)
• Items might arrive next day but this service will experience delays so we recommend upgrading to guaranteed next day delivery. This option is available online and by phone; we charge what Royal Mail charge us and this fee is based on the total weight of your order.

MEDIUM ORDERS OF STOCKED ITEMS (25 sheet packs, 250-475 sheets)

• Same day despatch via next working day carrier (Mon-Fri, up to 3pm)
• There may be a short despatch delay if an item you are ordering is temporarily out of stock.
• Your order will arrive anytime; some timed delivery options (e.g. pre-noon) are available but can only be requested by phone.
• Delivery to Northern Ireland, Scottish Highlands & Islands, Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly, and the Channel Islands uses a two day carrier service.

LARGE ORDERS OF STOCKED ITEMS & MADE TO ORDER ITEMS (500 sheet boxes)

• Despatch via next working day carrier where stock is available or once items have been manufactured.
  UPDATE Nov 2021: Our current lead-time is approximately 20 working days for all items except permanent white paper labels.
• Lead-times for all products (including permanent white paper labels) will eventually move beyond Christmas so, if you need to order a large volume of labels, you must order as early as possible.
• Delivery to Northern Ireland, Scottish Highlands & Islands, Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly, and the Channel Islands uses a two day carrier service.

Please contact our customer service team if you would like to confirm lead-times or check stock availability before ordering large quantities and made to order items.

What If I Need To Order Christmas Labels Later In The Year

If you can’t avoid placing a late order, these are the last posting dates you need to keep in mind if you want to receive your labels before Christmas.

These dates are for guidance only; they depend on stock availability and do not guarantee pre-Christmas delivery.

UPDATE Nov 2021: Please note that these estimates are for quantities of fewer than 500 sheets.
Orders for 500+ sheets (with the exception of permanent white paper labels) are now unlikely to be delivered before Christmas.

Orders of 500+ sheets of permanent white paper labels will be despatched on the same or next working day where stock is available. If stock is not available, it will take approximately 5 working days for despatch.

Order Your Christmas Labels Today!

To avoid any despatch and delivery problems, the best thing to do is to order early. So why not order your Christmas labels today. Simply head on over to our home page to place an online order or get in touch with our Customer Service Team. You’ll find plenty of help and advice on choosing, designing, and printing your own self adhesive labels in our Help Section, which also contains free Word and PDF label templates for all of our label sizes.