Holiday gifts

The cutoff is the day we post it, not the day it lands.

Almost every missed present comes out of that one sentence. Our date and the carriers' dates are below, separately, with what each actually guarantees — and if you miss them there is a card to print so there is still something to hand over.

The cutoff dates The guide

Last standard order in

17days

23hrs

59min

59sec

3Cutoffs published, ours and the carriers' separately

0Delivery dates we promise but do not control

60 daysReturns window across the holiday

1Card to print if a parcel will not make it

The second number is the one to look for elsewhere. A shop guaranteeing an arrival date in the busiest fortnight of the year is guaranteeing something a carrier has not guaranteed to them.

The cutoffs

Last order dates

Mon, Aug 24
International
Order by end of day. Customs queues are the variable and nobody can price how long they will be, so this date is set early on purpose.
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Mon, Aug 31
Standard delivery
Order by end of day and it goes to the carrier the next working morning. This is the date most people mean when they ask.
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Fri, Sep 4
Express delivery
Faster, not guaranteed. Express buys you a shorter journey rather than a promise, and the section below explains why nobody can sell you the second thing.
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Sun, Sep 6
We stop dispatching
Orders after this ship in the new year. You can still order — the confirmation will say clearly that it will not arrive before the holiday.
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Replace with your own and keep them as four separate dates. One combined "order by" date is easier to read and it is the reason people miss the international one.

What a cutoff actually means

It is when we hand it over, not when it arrives — Our side of the promise ends at the carrier's van. Everything after that is somebody else's network on its busiest fortnight of the year
A carrier's estimate is an estimate — Even a paid-for service. In December the networks run at several times normal volume and the published transit times are aspirations rather than terms
Express is faster, not guaranteed — It buys a shorter journey and an earlier cutoff. Anybody selling you a guaranteed date is selling you a refund policy with an optimistic name on it
Weather and volume are real and we cannot price them — One bad week closes a hub and everything behind it moves. We will tell you the moment we know, which is usually before the tracking does
Ordering early is the only real answer — It is also a sales line, which is why it is worth saying plainly: nothing on this page makes a late order arrive. The date is the whole mechanism
We will say if something will not make it — Before you order where we can, and on the confirmation where we cannot. A parcel that was never going to arrive should not be a surprise on the day

The guide, by how well you know them

Not by price and not by category. Most gift buying happens for somebody you know a bit, and no guide is ever written for that person.

For someone you know well

—

The specific thing they mentioned once. There is nothing here we can pick for you — go and look at what they already own and buy the better version of the one that is worn out.

How to think about it

For someone you don't

$28

Consumable, good quality, no size and no taste. Something used up in a month leaves no obligation and no clutter, which is the kindest thing for a relationship that is not close.

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For someone who has everything

$46

They do not need a thing, so buy a better version of something they use daily and would never replace themselves. The unglamorous item is almost always the right one.

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For the one who said don't

$15

Take them at their word and spend under a stated amount, or spend nothing and give time instead. Ignoring a clear request is a gift to yourself, not to them.

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Swap for your own ranges and keep the four headings. A guide sorted by relationship rather than by price is the one people actually finish reading.

If it will not arrive in time

Order it anyway and print this. A card saying what is coming and roughly when is a better thing to hand over than an apology, and it costs nothing to make.

⬇

Printable "it's on its way" card

PDF · 1 page

One page, two cards to a sheet, folded once. Space for what it is, who it is from, and roughly when it will arrive. No branding on it — it is a card, not an advert, and the person opening it should not be sold to.

Gift receipts and returns

Sixty days across the holiday, from the date of delivery — Long enough that something bought early and given late still has a real window. A thirty-day policy over this period is a thirty-day policy in name only
A gift receipt shows no price — Included on request, in the box, and it lets the recipient return or exchange without ever seeing what you paid
The recipient can return it without telling you — That is the point of the gift receipt and it is a kindness to both of you. Nobody should have to have that conversation
But the refund goes to whoever paid — It has to — that is where the money came from. So a recipient returning something gets an exchange or a credit, and a cash refund goes back to the buyer. Say this plainly rather than let it be discovered
Faulty is different and always has been — A fault is not a change of mind and no window or receipt applies to it in the same way. Tell us and we will sort it out with whoever is standing in front of the problem
Keep the packaging until they have opened it — Not a rule, just the thing that makes every one of the above easier. A returned item in its box is a five-minute problem

Check the date before the gift

The international cutoff is the one people miss, and it is a full week earlier.

The cutoff dates

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