Christmas posting question

[Catproblem]

I sell on Etsy although I’ve closed my shop until Christmas because of the severe postal delays.

My last lot of orders are being picked up tomorrow by RM apart from 3

One is in my town, one is in the next town, but I need to go there on Saturday to Body Shop, and the third is about 20 minutes away in the village my MIL lives, and we’re going on Sunday

I want to hand post these to avoid huge postal delays. They’re all Christmas items, and one has added a note - something like ‘To Lisa - because you deserve something nice. Love Lisa’ and I think she’s sending it to herself because the buyers full name matches the one I’m sending to.

Its literally no trouble to post them, and will be three less ‘where’s my order’ messages for me. However they’ve all paid for postage. It’s £1.95

Am I worrying about nothing? They will still receive their orders in little boxes, with the items wrapped in pretty tissue, and a thank you card, the same as everyone else.

Personally I wouldn’t mind. Im waiting for SO many Christmas presents to arrive, so it would be a good thing, but I don’t want to annoy anyone.

Im asking here because I read the Royal Mail postage thread, and there seem to be lots of Etsy buyers and sellers here

Just post them yourself if it will take less than an hour and you're worried. Why are you so anxious?

Also I wouldn't care if I'd paid for postage and they were hand delivered... I'd consider that worth far more than £1.95

In fact I'd consider it a preference. Also they won't know! Consider the £1.95 for your petrol

Agree the postage paid can be offset against your fuel costs. I’d think it’s very kind of you to hand deliver with the ongoing strikes and be very appreciative of you going to the trouble to ensure I got my order before Christmas.

I just thought I looked mean!!

Honestly this Christmas has made me a nervous wreck with the strikes. I absolutely support the posties, but small businesses have really been affected. I haven’t had this but according to the Etsy groups, when customers complain their item is late (even just a day or two, and only because of the strikes) Etsy are refunding them from the sellers account, then presumably the buyer gets the item for free. It might be possible to get compensation with that, but I wasn’t able to when I had an order to America go missing for FIVE MONTHS!! Obviously I refunded the lady, and she was lovely and tried to pay when it eventually arrived.

Anyway… I’ll hand deliver so they’ll get their things and I won’t worry about the money. I just wanted some other opinions. Thank you 😊