IT’s Isle of Man Post Office’s busiest time of the year by far.
Staff at the Spring Valley Industrial Estate’s sorting office are working flat out to ensure our Christmas parcels and letters arrive on time.
Posted mail doubles in December to around two million items compared with one million in a normal month. Just over half of this is for local delivery with the remainder going to the UK and overseas. Most are letters but packets and parcels also show a seasonal increase.
When it comes to incoming mail, the number of packets and parcels to be delivered to homes around the island rockets by more than 50 per cent. And on-line shopping is clearly making its mark.
Throughout the year the Post Office receives around 1.5 million pieces of mail a month coming from the UK and overseas. But at Christmas this figure rises to 2.3 million.
Malcolm MacPherson, managing director of mails, said: ‘So far volumes are holding up but are a little below last year’s level. Christmas card volumes are still buoyant but we do expect numbers to be lower than last year. This is a trend we have seen in recent years.
‘However, packet and parcel volumes (particularly from online shopping) show a significant rise and by the time we get to Christmas Day we expect to have delivered over 50,000 more packets and parcels compared with last year.’
The Post Office employs some 250 mail staff and there are over 100 delivery rounds. There are 40 staff employed in the sorting room, plus four or five casuals at Christmas. ‘We don’t rely on casual employment,’ Mr MacPherson said.