Kieran visited postal workers at Battle Delivery Office on Friday to find out more about what it takes to deliver letters and parcels in the peak Christmas period.
Christmas is Royal Mail’s busiest period, with around double the normal volume of letters and parcels processed. Kieran spoke to Customer Operations Manager Bob Bamblett about Royal Mail’s strategy to continue to make sending and receiving parcels as convenient as possible over the festive period by adding more choice. This includes services like Parcel Collect, where posties pick up parcels from customers at the doorstep, and offering more ways to drop off parcels at convenient times and locations. Royal Mail has already rolled out more than 5,000 parcel points this year, including at Collect+ stores and its growing number of parcel lockers.
Royal Mail prepares all year to deliver Christmas. Across the UK, the business has recruited 16,000 temporary workers to help its 85,000 posties sort the additional mail and increasing number of parcels expected over the festive period. Almost 4,000 new vans, trucks and trailers are being added to the fleet in time for Christmas.
Battle Delivery Office has hired 12 new recruits and two extra vehicles for the Christmas period to meet increased demand for deliveries. Staff have also constructed a large parcel sorting area to boost efficiency and get parcels out quicker.
Bob Bamblett, Customer Operations Manager for Battle, said: “It was great to have Kieran visit our Delivery Office, and to show him how we are gearing up for our peak period. We are pulling out all the stops to deliver Christmas for our customers.”
Dr Kieran Mullan, Member of Parliament for Bexhill and Battle, said: “Royal Mail is an iconic part of Christmas in the UK – it wouldn’t be the same without our posties! They work in some challenging conditions and are a really important part of the community. I got to speak to lots of our local posties and I’ve got a newfound appreciation for what they do after seeing how the operation works on the inside.”
