Articles / Sending

How to send a last-minute greeting card in Australia

It's Wednesday night and Dad's birthday is Friday. You haven't bought a card, and the post office shut hours ago. Here's how many days you really need, which way of sending is fastest, and what to write if it's going to land a little late.

Sending6 minute read20 October 2026

How many days do you have?

Start by counting business days until the day, not calendar days. Letters don't move on weekends or public holidays, so "three days away" on a Thursday is really one and a bit.

Posting it yourself: regular post or Express Post

If you can get to a shop and a post office, Australia Post has three speeds for a card.

Prices are Australia Post's at the time of writing, for a small letter up to 130 by 240 millimetres. Many square and larger cards count as a large letter, which costs more. Regular letters are also now delivered every second business day in most places, which is why the regular range is so wide.

For a card that's due tomorrow, Express Post is the only one of the three worth trying. It's next business day between postcodes in the Express Post network, if you post it on a business day before the cut-off. Outside the network it goes as fast as existing transport allows, which can be a few days. Put the card in the Express Post envelope as it is; you don't need a second envelope inside.

Order online before the cut-off

If you can't get to the shops at all, order a card online and let someone else print, write and post it. That works from your phone at 11pm, from the office, or from overseas.

With Snailgram, you describe a cover in one sentence and pick from three made only for you. Then you write your message, exactly as you want it, and a pen writes it inside the card in real ink. We never edit or rewrite your words. Cards ordered before 2pm Sydney time on a business day are stamped and posted that same day.

Delivery is next business day to most capital city postcodes, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and Hobart. Everywhere else in Australia takes three business days. When you add the postcode, the studio shows the earliest day it can arrive, and you pick the date from there. Our delivery date calculator shows the same dates, and the last day to order, for any postcode. Delivery is included in the price.

The 2pm cut-off in your time zone

The cut-off is 2pm in Sydney, which isn't 2pm everywhere. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory don't use daylight saving, so the gap changes in summer.

Ordering from overseas? 2pm in Sydney is the early hours of the morning in the UK and the evening before in North America, so the easy rule is to order the night before. Our guide to sending a card to Australia from overseas has more.

Weekends, public holidays and December

• Friday afternoon is the trap. Miss the cut-off on a Friday and nothing moves until Monday, so a Saturday birthday becomes a Tuesday card.
• Public holidays don't count as business days. Watch for long weekends, and for state holidays like the King's Birthday, which falls on different dates in different states.
• December is busy. Australia Post publishes Christmas cut-off dates for each service every year. Treat them as the real deadline, not a guide.
• Mother's Day and Father's Day are always Sundays, so the last delivery day is the Friday before. Aim for the Thursday to be safe.

If it's going to be late anyway

Sometimes the day has gone. That's fine. A card that turns up two days late still ends up on the fridge, and it still says you thought about them. Two things help.

Send a message on the day

A short text on the day takes the sting out of a late card, and gives them something to look forward to: "Happy birthday! Something's on its way to you, keep an eye on the letterbox."

Keep the apology to one line

Don't spend the whole card saying sorry. Acknowledge it once, then write the card you would have written anyway. Some openers that work:

• "Late, but no less meant."
• "This card took the scenic route, like me."
• "Happy birthday week. I'm told it counts."
• "A few days late, and still thinking of you."

Then say something specific to them. If you're stuck, our four-part formula for what to write in a card works for belated cards too.