26-11-2020

An Post is forecasting Ireland’s busiest ever online shopping fortnight as a surge of support for Irish retailers combines with Black Friday and Cyber Monday e-commerce events this weekend ahead of shops reopening next week. An Post’s e-Commerce backbone has the capacity with the opening in October, just-in-time, of the second automated parcel hub in CityWest, Dublin; the arrival of 600 additional electric vehicles; and the deployment of the latest handheld scanners for track and trace.

In recent weeks An Post has delivered 2.5 million parcels per week and this is set to hit 3.3 million per week between now and mid-December.    The mix of high street store closures during Level 5 Covid restrictions, online retail offers and early Christmas shopping is driving a 230% increase in parcels, from 1 million to 3.3 million items compared to the same period last year.   Letter volumes are also rising steadily in response to An Post’s “Send Love and Memories” campaign. The Post Office network is also handling record numbers of parcels over the counter with customers availing of An Post’s packaging options.
 
Globally and nationally supply chains are under strain, working at record demand. E-tailers, postal and logistics organisations, and retailers’ Online services all carry the same message: Order as early as possible as delivery times globally are longer.
 
David McRedmond, CEO of An Post said “Parcel volumes have reached spectacular levels as the lockdown has driven all early-Christmas purchasing Online. Our €30 million investment in parcels automation ensures we have the capacity to deal with this surge.  Processing and delivery are taking longer than normal and we are delivering record volumes of parcels seven days a week.   It’s great to see such huge support for Irish goods and that customers are acting on our advice to post early to overseas destinations.   
 
“We have 1,000 extra staff helping us this Christmas and our delivery staff have new scanning technology and electric vehicles to help them get parcels and letters to customers as quickly as possible.  We’re working around the clock to deliver parcels and cards to customers speedily and safely. I cannot thank our staff enough for working tirelessly and efficiently despite all the necessary Covid restrictions, whether on the frontline, or in customer support, to make this as good a Christmas as possible for everyone”.

Source: An Post

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