Christmas comes early for Australia Post's parcel business
Friday, 03 December 2010
Australia Post is urging Australians to get their presents in the mail, with parcel volumes nearly at peak-Christmas levels due to the strong Aussie dollar driving online sales and boosting the number of domestic and international parcels.
During the busy Christmas period Australia Post processes more than 600,000 domestic and international parcels each day compared to the regular 400,000 per day at other times of the year.
"In October we were seeing the volume of parcels that we'd normally expect in December, and it's only going to get busier as we get closer to Christmas, so we're urging people to get their presents in the post" said Australia Post spokesperson Lanie Harris.
"Christmas is always a bumper time for mail, and the boom in online shopping is great for our parcels' business; two out of every three parcels purchased online are delivered by Australia Post," said Ms Harris.
To ensure Christmas gifts arrive in time, Australia Post's Melbourne Parcels Facility boosts the number of parcels' workers, employing an additional 120 Christmas casual staff in November and December on top of its regular 250 strong workforce.
At Melbourne Parcels Facility in Sunshine, around 300,000 parcels will be processed each day during the lead-up to Christmas, with an extra 120 Christmas casuals brought in to join the 250 regular staff to help manage the load.
Australia Post is urging Australians to mail their Christmas gifts early to ensure they arrive in plenty of time.
"Our staff put in a tremendous effort over the Christmas period to manage the huge influx of Christmas parcels, but people can help us by posting early so we can make sure the presents get under the tree in plenty of time," said Ms Harris.
For further information about Christmas, Australia Post has created a special Christmas webpage auspost.com.au/christmas where customers can calculate the cost of postage, find trading hours, track parcels and find mailing deadlines.