North Antrim MP Jim Allister with staff at Royal Mail Delivery Office in Ballymena.
Jim Allister MP visited postal workers at Ballymena Delivery Office on Thursday 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. Jim spoke to Lead Customer Operations Manager Sam Hopwood 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.
Ballymena Delivery Office has hired 6 new recruits and 12extra vehicles for the Christmas period to meet increased demand for deliveries in the local area.
Sam Hopwood, Lead Customer Operations Manager forBallymena, said:
“It was great to have Jim visit our Delivery Office, and to show him how we are gearing up for our peak period. I’m fortunate to manage a great team of posties who go above and beyond every day, pulling out all the stops to deliver Christmas for our customers.”
Jim Allister, Member of Parliament for North Antrim,said:
“Royal Mail is an iconic part of Christmas in the UK – it wouldn’t be the same without our posties! I’ve got a newfound appreciation for what they do after seeing how the operation works on the inside.”