This, the season of good cheer, and to ensure that you stand a good chance of having your Christmas Day message or gift being delivered before the special day, post it before it's really too late.

Note that the postal service is used to getting this mad rush, and has put plans in place to accommodate the expected surge in mail, but unless you send it by a time-guaranteed mail service, it is possible that it may not reach in time.

Want to ensure that it reaches? Then go with the expedited mail services that provide a delivery deadline: Guaranteed! Locally, use zip mail or zip courier. For overseas items, send via DHL, our corporate partner.

Express Mail Service (EMS), which is offered through a bilateral agreement with other postal administrations, does not offer a time guarantee for delivery but is expected to reach addresses in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom within a week. You can track the EMS item on the Internet yourself at www.jamaica post.gov.jm.

Guaranteed Mail Delivery Options

About zip mail: (post office to post office)

Zip mail gets your letters and small packets to a major post office by the next business day. You present the item at a major post office before the cut-off time, and it's sent to the destination post office before the end of the next business day.

About zip courier: Business place or home to most addresses within the Kingston Metropolitan Region (KMR).

Zip courier allows customers to have their letters and small packets picked up from a home or business and delivered to most locations within the KMR, within the same day. This depends on the time that the zip courier team gets the 'pick-up' call.

About DHL: international courier partner

DHL, in partnership with Jamaica Post, will convey items to most international destinations within two or three days. This service is available from these post offices: Meadowbridge (Kingston 19), Constant Spring (Kingston 8), Hagley Park (Kingston 11), and Liguanea (Kingston 6). DHL also provides intake of mail items at its own offices across Jamaica.

Conditions apply in each case, and the customer service representative will be happy to provide more information. Visit your post office soon!