More than 2,000 Royal Mail colleagues from office-based roles will support postmen and women on their rounds during December as the company pulls out all the stops to deliver for the nation this Christmas.
This week is predicted to be the busiest of the year for Royal Mail, with around double the amount of both mail and parcels expected to go through the network.
Throughout the festive shopping period, from the Black Friday weekend to the final week of December, employees usually based in offices around the country will spend several days each supporting postmen and women with deliveries to help ensure the increased number of Christmas cards and online shopping parcels reach customers’ doorsteps on time.
Grant McPherson, chief operating officer Royal Mail, said: “We know how critical it is that we deliver for our customers this year and we are doing everything we can to make sure that this happens. Postmen and women up and down the country are working especially hard this festive period to deliver people’s Christmas shopping and cards and it is right that the whole company gets behind them and supports them as much as possible.”
As part of Royal Mail’s efforts to deliver the best possible service for customers over the peak period, the company has also hired 16,000 seasonal workers to help sort the mail. They are working across the country, including at five temporary parcel sorting centers located in Atherstone, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Daventry and Greenford, London measuring a total of 176,500sqm – equivalent to 16 football pitches.
The company has also increased its fleet with an additional 6,800 vehicles across the Group and hired over 1,000 road haulage contractors to transport the festive mail and parcels across the country.
Royal Mail delivering at Christmas:
Parcel Collect:
Royal Mail’s Parcel Collect service is a convenient way to send parcels or returns this Christmas. With this service, posties collect parcels and returns from customers while they carry out their daily round. This means online sellers and online shoppers can mail or return a pre-paid item by post from the comfort of their own home. Royal Mail can also collect from a safe place. To make it even more convenient, if customers don’t have a printer, posties can print and bring the label to the doorstep. Royal Mail’s Parcel Postboxes are another option for sending parcels or return items.
Shop Early and Post Early for Christmas:
Royal Mail is encouraging customers to order their online gifts and shopping well in advance, and to post their festive greetings early, to help its postmen and women deliver the bumper festive mailbag. Its latest recommended posting dates for mail to arrive in time for Christmas 2023 are:
Monday 18 December:
2nd Class
2nd Class Signed For
Wednesday 20 December:
1st Class
1st Class Signed For
Friday 22 December:
Special Delivery Guaranteed®
Further information is available at www.royalmail.com/greetings
