Christmas is coming, geese are becoming rotund and our wallets are about to become thin. But the usual madness of the Christmas shopping frenzy may not arrive, thanks to Apple Store Pickup.

The UK, from today, will be able to use the Apple Store Pickup service to collect items ordered online. By ordering on the Apple Store website items can be guaranteed as waiting for you on arrival at a store or local pickup point, usually within an hour.

So how does it work? Head over to the Apple Store site, find an item you want and select "Available for pickup: Check availability". Then you need to enter the postcode of the place you want to pickup the item from, be it near home, in town, at work, whatever. Then click "Search Stores". If you find items marked "Available Today" you should be able to pickup that product within an hour. Apple will send you an email notifying you when your item is ready for collection.

This could be ideal when already at the shops as you can take care of other shopping before being told when to head to the Apple Store for collection. That should make item pickups as easy as walking in and out without a wait.

On collection you will need to bring the card the item was bought with, or the order number and a valid photo ID.

There's also an option to allow someone else to pickup the item for you. They will need the order number and photo ID.

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