Delivery & Dispatch

1. Everything is made to order

Nothing is pre-printed on a shelf. Every letter is made individually after you order, because every one is personalised. Production time is real, and it is separate from postal time.

2. When the clock starts

The dispatch clock starts when your recording is finished and paid for, whichever of those two happens last.

Most people record before they pay, so for most orders the clock starts at payment. If you pay first and record on Thursday, it starts on Thursday. We will email to remind you if you have not recorded, and your order page shows what it is waiting for.

3. Production time

3 working days. Monday to Friday, excluding Scottish bank holidays.

That covers printing the letter, writing and checking the tag, sealing it by hand and getting it into the post. We print in-house, so there is no third party in the middle of it.

4. Postal time

We post by Royal Mail, UK addresses only, as a Large Letter.

Second class (included)

Royal Mail aims for 2–3 working days

First class (paid upgrade)

Royal Mail aims for the next working day

Those are Royal Mail's aims, not guarantees. Royal Mail does not treat an item as lost until 10 working days after the due delivery date, and we cannot open a claim before then.

5. Total time to expect

Second class

about 5–6 working days from the clock starting

First class

about 4 working days from the clock starting

Order early. These are typical times, not promises, and December is the worst month in the postal year.

6. Christmas last order dates

Early December (1–7 Dec)

order by 26 Nov second class, or 1 Dec first class

Mid December (8–16 Dec)

order by 5 Dec second class, or 9 Dec first class

Just before Christmas (17–22 Dec)

order by 11 Dec second class, or 15 Dec first class

Still provisional

Royal Mail publishes its 2026 Christmas dates in the autumn. Ours are our own arithmetic until then, and we will move them here the day theirs are out. A date presented as certain and then moved is worse than one presented as provisional and then fixed.

These are the dates the shop shows you when you choose when it should land, because they come from the same place: they cannot say one thing here and another there.

Orders placed after the last date will still be made and posted, but we cannot promise they arrive before Christmas, and the site will say so plainly rather than quietly taking an order it cannot deliver.

Remember the recording. If you order on the last date and do not record for two days, you have missed the window, because the clock starts at the recording.

7. If something goes wrong

• Not arrived? Write to hello@tapapost.co.uk. Once 10 working days have passed since the due date we will remake it or refund you.
• Damaged in the post? Send us a photograph within 14 days of delivery and we will replace it free of charge.
• Wrong address given? We post to the address you give us. If it is wrong and the item comes back to us we will repost it at your cost. If it does not come back, we cannot replace it free of charge.