The ‘planners’ among us shop, make lists, send cards and know the cut-off date to safely send gifts and have them arrive in far away lands in time for the festive chaos of Christmas morning.

But, as we all know, living on the tip of Africa means that we have a slow postal system that only sometimes works, TIA…

I’ve heard of a friend’s Christmas parcels arriving around Easter, after being stuck in the Christmas backlog… His family then decided to start sending them off early, just to be on the safe side, which often resulted in a mini-Christmas celebrated in September (basically thanking the gods out there that things had arrived safely).

It baffles me that a person can get on a plane and land anywhere in the world in just a day, whereas parcels can take weeks – even months – to reach their destination. One year, my UK-based sister posted parcels to us according to the Royal Mail cut-off. But they never got further than Joburg… until the new year when, after numerous attempts to track them, they showed up on Valentine’s Day. It’s all very lovely that they reached us, but wow, was the timing off.

With the popularity of online shopping, it may be less stressful to just send a voucher code via email. But the spirit of Christmas is found in the giving of gifts that are personally wrapped and sent – there are few things more wonderful than the kids around the Christmas tree in gleeful excitement. But all this means finding a reliable way to get your parcels, timeously, to where they need to go.

A new e-commerce service is here to help: CourierScout finds providers that match your parcel’s destination, returning in seconds with a list of prices. You can compare offers from Aramex, Fastway, CourierIT and more, and select your preferred service. Then pay online and the courier will come and collect – and deliver!

Using this service, you’ll be sure to hear the squeals of loved ones opening gifts on Christmas day – whether they’re beside you or over Skype, many miles away.

Merry Christmas y’all!