Your gift's in the post!

There's a huge range of business gifts you can send by post. Vouchers are probably the easiest things to send but forget book tokens and clothing coupons; today you can get much more exciting alternatives. How about vouchers for the use of a gym (www.leisurevouchers.co.uk), part ownership of a vineyard (www.wineshare.co.uk), skydiving (www.experiencemore.co.uk) or a day's jousting (www.redletterdays.co.uk)?

Wine, chocolates or flowers have long been popular gifts and there is no reason why you can't make your own selection and post them as normal. Wine can be protected by special polystyrene bottle packs (see www.acpackaging.co.uk) which cater for one, two or three bottles. Chocolates are easy to send by mail, as a sturdy box around the maker's carton usually gives ample protection. Flowers are also surprisingly postable, separated into layers by cellophane or tissue paper and packed into a corrugated-board box. If you include damp moss or other material to keep them fresh then make sure the packaging is waterproof.

For the more unusual gifts you can post, how about a palmtop? Electronic equipment may be sent via mail as long as it's in its retail packaging and providing the battery is neither charged nor removed. A good quality pen or writing set (www.thepensite.co.uk) is easy to wrap and light to post. Or how about wine accessories such as corkscrews and stoppers (www.selectgifts.co.uk)? Or golfing accessories such as umbrellas - which can be packed into a large cardboard or plastic tube - and ball markers (www.onlinegolf.co.uk)? Luxury items such as cufflinks or scarf pins usually have their own presentation box or pouch and can simply be posted in a padded bag.

Unless it's huge, very heavy or one of the few items the Royal Mail won't handle (like radioactive material, livestock or armaments) virtually anything can be posted. If you're unsure, ask the post office!

What do you need?

The contents of any parcel are most easily damaged if they can move around, so choose a snug container and fill the corners with packing material. For wine, specialist packaging is best, but you can get away with wrapping the bottles in bubblewrap and nestling them into a strong box filled with polystyrene chips, shredded paper or other padding material. Seal all the edges and corners of parcels with strong tape and don't use string, which has a tendency to cut through the outer covering.

Fragile and/or valuable items are particularly vulnerable, although adequate packaging should protect the former, while Royal Mail special delivery will at least insure the latter. It's also best to avoid sending items which might leak; bottles and jars containing foodstuffs are usually well sealed but bath accessories in plastic bottles, for example, may not be, and are more vulnerable to being squashed. If you must send dubiously-sealed liquids then wrap the bottles in something absorbent such as paper or cloth before packing them properly.

Lost in transit

In spite of what you hear, very few parcels go astray and many of those which do are misdelivered because the address is incomplete or illegible. If you want to be completely sure you can, for a small extra charge, use the Royal Mail's recorded delivery service. If you choose this option and you're sending the gift to the recipient's home then remember that someone has to be in to sign for delivery.

In these days of couriers the postal service is often overlooked when it comes to delivering business gifts. Yet the Royal Mail's national infrastructure, flat rate charge and daily delivery to even the most remote parts of the UK are hard to beat.

The Royal Mail is still widely recognised as one of the best postal services in the world and will happily advise on its services and the various possibilities for posting. And let's be honest - doesn't everyone like getting a surprise through the post?