Christmas Gift Shipping Tips

One of the trickiest parts of Christmas gift giving is when the person you want to give a gift to lives across the country. How can you ensure that your gift makes it there in time and in good condition? The following tips will help you with this task.

Start Shipping Early: Leaving plenty of time before Christmas for the gift to arrive is the number one tip to ensure a happy Christmas morning. Of course, paying extra for two day or overnight delivery is always an option. However, these are not always guaranteed delivery times for the Christmas rush. Each carrier has its own set of delivery deadlines so be sure to check out these websites as your plan.

United State Postal Service

UPS

Federal Express

Be careful when shipping overseas, the deadlines come up early and fast each year. Some dates have already past for 2008.

Media Mail: If you are giving the gift of CD's, books, magazines, and compute media (including computer games) this Christmas, take a look at media mail from the USPS.com. This is a special discounted rate especially for media, but it will take much longer to ship. USPS.com has the details here.

Insurance: Do not forget to buy insurance for your gift if it is expensive or generally breakable. Again, each carrier has their own limits and price points. Most often insurance is only a few dollars and will guarantee the value of the gift.

Also, it is important that the gift is packed properly in order to quality for the insurance claim. The easiest way o prove that the gift was packed properly is to take a few digital images of it before it is sealed up and then again after it is sealed and addressed.

So go ahead and ship your package. If these tips are followed, your gift will arrive in a safe and timely manner.