Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP visited postal workers at Shirley 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. Neil spoke to Customer Operations Manager Kurt Shaw 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.
Shirley Delivery Office has hired three temporary members of staff and four extra vehicles for the Christmas period to meet increased demand for deliveries in the local area.
Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst, Member of Parliament for Solihull West and Shirley, said: “Royal Mail is an iconic part of Christmas in the UK – the image of our local postman or woman, walking up the drive, laden with Christmas cards and parcels will be familiar to us all! After seeing how the operation works on the inside, I have a newfound appreciation for the incredible job they do.”
