Trouble on the cards for Christmas post: Post Office workers strike today
Thought you'd be organised and send off all Christmas cards and presents early to friends and relatives abroad?
Well bad luck, because Post Office workers are striking today. Father Christmas will not be happy.
It's not too bad for Londoners: the Post Office said a branch was closed in the City of London and in St Johns Wood, but there are 20 other branches open as usual.
About 720 managers have walked out over a pension row. The workers are members of Unite, the country's largest union, joined the Communication Workers Union (CWU) to target 300 locations.
There has been a long-running dispute over the franchising of Crown Post Offices as well as job losses and the closure of a final salary pension scheme.
Read more: A strike by Post Office managers will disrupt international Christmas post
Unite officer for the Post Office, Brian Scott, said the day had been selected as one of the busiest days for people sending cards and parcels to friends and family abroad.
We are taking this action because the management refuses to talk in a constructive manner about the pension scheme which is currently in surplus to more than £143m.
This is the retirement income of our members which is at stake and we are not going to stand idly by and let them lose thousands of pounds when they retire.
Read more: Post Office strike: Further action could cause Christmas post chaos
The Post Office though, has told customers that "almost all" of its 11,600 branches will be open today, despite the strike action, which it says is affecting fewer than 300 branches, and it will be "business as usual".
Kevin Gilliland, Post Office network and sales director, said: "The changes we are making throughout our business underpin our commitment to keeping Post Office services widely available into the future."
He said that over the past four years, nearly 7,000 post offices have been modernised. "We want that progress to continue," Gilliland added.